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THE  VISITING  TEACHER 

IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  FUNCTION  AND  AN  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  WORK 

OF  THE  VISITING  TEACHER  STAFF  OF  THE  PUBLIC  EDUCATION 

ASSOCIATION  FROM  1912  TO  1915  INCLUSIVE 


BY 


HARRIET  M.  JOHNSON 

Of  the  Visiting  Teacher  Staff  of  the  Public  Education  Association 


J:'     \ 


\  '■ 


Public  Education  Association  of  the 
City  of  New  York 

8  West  40th  Street 
June,  1916 


VISITING  TEACHER  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  PUBLIC 
EDUCATION  ASSOCATION 


Mrs 
Mrs.  Sidney  Borg 
Miss  Ida  M.  Carpenter 
Miss  Jane  F.  Culbert 
Abraham  Flexner 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Henderson 
Mrs.  C.  p.  Howland 
Miss  Helen  Hunt 


Joseph  R.  Swan,  Chairman 

Miss  Eleanor  H.  Johnson 

Mrs.  Wesley  C.  Mitchell 

Mrs.  a.  G.  Norrie 

Mrs.  John  Pratt 

Miss  Katharine  W.  Tweed 

Miss  Elizabeth  S.  Williams 

Mrs,  E.  L.  Winthrop,  Jr. 


VISITING  TEACHER  STAFF 

Jane  F.  Culbert,  Head  of  Staff 
Ethel  B.  Allen  Rena  Levy 

Hallie  B.  Craigwell  {Assist,)  Mary  S.  Marot 

Jane  Day  Sophia  G.  Mills 

Lydia  Herrick  Hodge  Virginia  P.  Robinson 


FORMER  MEMBERS  OF  THE  STAFF 


Effie  Abrams  Clark 
Mary  Flexner 
Harriet  Forbes 
Margaret  Higham 


Harriet  M.  Johnson 
Dorothy  Kirch wey  Brown 
Elizabeth  Simmons 
Ruth  S.  True 


THE  VISITING  TEACHER 

IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  FUNCTION  AND  AN  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  WORK 

OF  THE  VISITING  TEACHER  STAFF  OF  THE  PUBLIC  EDUCATION 

ASSOCIATION  FROM  1912  TO  1915  INCLUSIVE 


BY 

HARRIET  M.  JOHNSON 

Of  the  Visiting  Teacher  Staff  of  the  Public  Education  Association 


•         ■  .  V   - 


Public  Education  Association  of  the 
City  of  New  York 

8  West  40th  Street 
June,  1916 


^    C/V- 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

ORIGIN  AND  SIGNIFICANCE   OF   THE  VISITING  TEACHER 

EXPERIMENT v 

Introduction xi 

Part     I— SCOPE   AND   FUNCTION    OF   VISITING   TEACHER 

WORK I 

Socializing  the  School  and  Individualizing  the  Child  ...  i 

Function  of  the  Visiting  Teacher 3 

Studying  the  Neighborhood 3 

Studying  the  Child 6 

Treatment  of  Individual  Children 6 

Treatment  of  Groups  or  Classes  of  Children 7 

Cooperating  with  the  School 8 

Illustrative  Cases 9 

Record  Forms 14 

Part    II.— ANALYSIS  OF  CASES  REPORTED  IN  1913-14 20 

Reasons  for  Reporting 21 

Comparative  Tables 26 

Age-Grade  Distribution 29 

Grade  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 31 

Age  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 33 

Nativity  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 36 

Physical  Condition  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 39 

Family  Status  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 45 

Treatment  of  Case  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 48 

Fundamental  Difficulties  and  Reasons  for  Investigation  53 
Measures  Found  Most  Effective  and  Reasons  for  In- 
vestigation    59 

Summary 65 

Future  Development  of  the  Work 67 

Part  III.— VISITING  TEACHER  WORK  191 1-1915 69 

Reasons  for  Investigation 71 

Conditions  Found 73 

Action  Taken  and  Treatment  Secured 77 

Outcome 77 

Appendix. — Physical  Needs  of  Children  in  One  Visiting  Teacher's 

School 82 


ui 


342072 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  VISIT- 
ING TEACHER  EXPERIMENT 

The  work  of  the  visiting  teacher  as  set  forth  in  this  report  is 
but  one  of  many  instances  that  might  be  cited  from  the  history  of 
public  education  in  this  country  to  illustrate  how  organized  citi- 
zen effort  can  further  child  welfare  in  cooperation  with  the  public 
school  authorities.  A  study  of  the  development  of  the  public 
school  system  shows  that  at  every  step  progress  has  been  made 
either  partly  through  the  assistance  of  public  spirited  citizens  or 
almost  entirely  through  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  from  with- 
out. 

When  the  initiative  has  been  taken  by  the  community  and  an 
insistent  demand  has  been  made  upon  the  school  to  readjust 
itself  more  adequately  to  meet  the  needs  of  changing  social  and 
economic  conditions,  it  has  sometimes  happened  that  specialists 
in  education  have  resented  what  they  have  regarded  as  an  intru- 
sion upon  their  vested  rights  and  have  looked  upon  the  participa- 
tion of  laymen  in  educational  matters  as  belittling  the  teaching 
profession.  The  majority  of  educators,  however,  have  always 
recognized  not  only  the  natural  desire  but  the  right  of  a  demo- 
cratic community  to  concern  itself  intimately  with  a  matter  of 
such  fundamental  importance  to  its  existence  and  welfare  as  the 
education  of  its  children  for  efficient  citizenship.  Such  specialists 
have  welcomed  a  widespread  and  effective  expression  of  public 
interest  in  school  affairs,  not  simply  as  an  aid  in  solving  the  com- 
plex problems  which  confront  them,  but  as  a  public  recognition 
of  the  importance  of  their  professional  service  to  the  community. 
To  them  it  has  seemed  quite  as  proper  that  the  educator  should 
be  stimulated  by  the  community  as  that  the  community  should 
be  stimulated  by  the  educator. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  contribution  of  public  education  to  the 
progress  and  perpetuation  of  democracy  will  depend  upon  the 
extent  to  which  the  citizen  and  the  educator,  from  their  different 
viewpoints,  can  reconcile  differences  of  opinion  and  reach  a  sound 
conclusion  as  to  what  "preparation  for  life"  in  a  democracy 

v 


VI 

means.  Neither  can  do  this  effectively  alone,  and  cooperation  is 
possible  only  when  there  is  mutual  respect  for  each  other's  opin- 
ions and  a  disposition  to  meet  each  other  fairly  and  with  courtesy. 
In  the  two  decades  during  which  the  Public  Education  Associa- 
tion has  assisted  in  improving  the  welfare  of  the  New  York 
schools,  it  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  take  part  in  many  impor- 
tant movements.  At  times  it  has  encountered  vigorous,  even 
bitter,  opposition,  but  it  has  always  enjoyed  the  hearty  coopera- 
tion of  a  large  number  of  men  and  women  in  the  system  interested 
in  forw^arding  these  movements  through  the  exchange  of  sincere 
criticism  based  on  honest  difference  of  opinion. 

In  none  of  its  efforts,  however,  has  the  Association  met  with 
more  cordial  and  more  universal  response  than  in  connection  with 
the  visiting  teacher  work.  For  ten  years  this  demonstration  has 
been  carried  on  in  New  York  City,  From  the  beginning  it  has 
had  the  hearty  support  not  only  of  Dr.  Maxwell,  the  City  Super- 
intendent of  Schools,  but  also  of  the  principals  and  teachers  in  the 
schools  in  which  the  work  has  been  conducted.  Without  such 
cooperation  the  work  could  not  have  been  successful.  Further- 
more, while  the  Association,  with  its  limited  staff,  has  been  able 
to  serve  only  thirty-three  different  public  schools,*  the  value  of 
the  work  has  been  so  generally  recognized  that  urgent  requests 
for  assignments  have  been  received  from  over  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  principals.  The  first  summary  of  this  work,  pre- 
pared for  the  Association  by  Mrs.  Nathalie  Henderson  Swan,  was 
published  by  the  City  Superintendent  of  Schools  in  his  Thirteenth 
Annual  Report.  After  including  in  its  budget  for  several  years  a 
request  for  funds  to  introduce  and  extend  this  work  under  its  own 
direction,  the  Board  of  Education  succeeded  two  years  ago  in 
employing  two  visiting  teachers,  and  has  at  present  a  staff  of 
seven,  under  the  general  supervision  of  Associate  Superintendent 
Edson.  In  view  of  these  facts,  and,  particularly,  of  the  close 
cooperation  existing  between  the  visitors  under  the  employ  of  the 
Board  of  Education  and  those  under  the  Public  Education  Asso- 
ciation, it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  better  example  of  cooperation  be- 
tween official  bodies  and  outside  citizen  organizations  would  be 
difficult  to  find. 

Home  and  school  visiting  has  been  done  since  the  schools  first 
called  children  from  narrow  family  relationships  to  the  larger 

*  In  Manhattan,  Nos.:  i,  2,  3,  5,  7,  8,  12,  17,  28,  34,  38,  41,  42,  59,  60, 
62,  65,  75,  76,  84,  89,  92,  95,  113,  120,  125,  137,  166,  177,  179;  and,  in  the 
Bronx,  Nos.  4,  44  and  50. 


Vll 


groupings  within  their  walls.  In  country  and  town  schools  and 
in  the  kindergarten  departments  of  the  city  systems  teachers  have 
always  sought  an  acquaintance  with  the  parents  of  their  pupils, 
which,  of  itself,  has  prevented  many  misunderstandings  and  has 
introduced,  as  an  individualizing  influence,  the  wholesome  factor 
of  social  relationship  between  the  home  and  the  school. 

It  has  been  in  the  large  cities,  with  their  problems  of  congestion 
and  poverty,  that  agencies  for  social  welfare  have  been  brought 
into  being.  It  was  through  one  of  these,  the  settlement,  that 
organized  home  and  school  visiting  was  first  begun  in  New  York 
City  in  1906,  In  that  year  Hartley  House  and  Greenwich  House 
undertook  the  work  already  begun  by  Miss  Mary  Marot,  and 
placed  Miss  Marot  and  Miss  Effie  Abrams  as  visitors  in  Districts 
IX,  X  and  XI.  The  work  was  carried  on  for  a  time  thereafter 
under  the  general  direction  of  a  committee  composed  of  these 
two  visitors  and  Miss  Elisabeth  Roemer  of  Richmond  Hill  House, 
Miss  May  Mathews  of  Hartley  House,  and  Miss  Elizabeth 
Williams  of  College  Settlement. 

In  January,  1907,  this  committee  became  a  part  of  the  Public 
Education  Association,  working  in  connection  with  the  Com- 
mittee on  Home  and  School  Visiting,  and,  in  the  following  Oc- 
tober, Miss  Jane  Day  was  employed  by  the  Association  to  work  in 
Districts  II  and  III.  From  that  time,  the  work  under  the 
Association  has  gradually  been  extended.  The  stafT  at  present 
consists  of  nine  visiting  teachers.  In  addition  to  these  and  the 
visitors  employed  under  the  Department  of  Education,  persons 
doing  similar  work  with  other  organizations  and  in  surrounding 
communities  have  been  invited  to  monthly  conferences  for  the 
purpose  of  exchanging  ideas  and  experiences  of  mutual  value. 
As  Miss  Johnson  has  pointed  out,  the  Association  has  sought  to 
extend  the  work  in  such  a  way  as  to  furnish  as  complete  a  dem- 
onstration as  possible  of  what  the  visiting  teachers  can  accomplish 
for  the  children  in  the  public  schools.  During  the  past  year,  for 
example,  a  visiting  teacher  with  a  colored  assistant  has  been 
placed  in  a  school  having  a  large  registration  of  colored  children, 
and  during  the  coming  year  it  is  planned  to  place  another  visitor 
in  one  of  the  high  schools. 

Visiting  teacher  work  has  not,  however,  been  confined  entirely 
to  New  York  City.  In  Boston,  where  the  work  was  also  begun 
ten  years  ago,  there  are  now  seventeen  home  and  school  visitors, 
who  work  in  connection  with  settlements  or  other  private  organi- 


VIU 

zations.  Meanwhile,  the  work  has  extended  to  other  cities.  In 
Rochester  and  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  in 
Montclair,  N.  J.,  the  departments  of  education  have  introduced 
the  work;  while  in  Philadelphia,  Hartford,  Baltimore,  Columbus, 
O.,  and  Chicago,  the  work  is  carried  on  under  the  direction  of 
psychological  clinics,  parents'  associations  and  child  welfare 
agencies. 

Early  in  its  experience  in  New  York  City,  the  Public  Education 
Association  became  convinced  that  its  visitors  could  render  more 
effective  service  if  assigned  to  single  schools,  rather  than  to  a 
number  of  schools.  The  work  is  essentially  preventive  in  char- 
acter, and,  where  the  service  of  a  teacher  is  spread  over  too  wide 
an  area,  it  is  but  natural  that  only  the  more  difficult  and  far  ad- 
vanced cases  wall  be  referred  to  her  and  that  the  work  will  in- 
evitably change  its  character  and  become  largely  corrective.  To 
avoid  this,  the  Association  has  discontinued  its  former  practice  of 
assigning  visitors  to  one  or  more  districts  and  has  assigned  each 
to  one  school  only,  in  which  she  does  intensive  preventive  work 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  school  principal. 

A  resume  of  the  visiting  teacher  experiment  in  New  York  City 
would  be  incomplete  without  particular  mention  of  those  outside 
of  the  schools  who  also  have  cooperated  with  the  Association  in 
making  the  work  possible.  Aside  from  the  social  and  other 
agencies  enumerated  by  Miss  Johnson  which  have  rendered  sub- 
stantial aid  in  dealing  with  the  needs  of  the  individual  children 
referred  to  the  visiting  teachers  by  the  schools,  there  have  been 
over  a  score  of  contributors  to  the  maintenance  fund.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  individuals  who  have  thus  rendered  financial  aid,  the 
following  organizations  have  also  contributed :  The  Junior  League, 
the  Julia  Richman  Memorial  Committee,  the  New  York  Founda- 
tion, the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  and  the  Westchester  Associa- 
tion. The  extent  of  this  service  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
over  $40,000  has  been  expended  for  its  upkeep  through  the  Public 
Education  Association  alone  during  the  past  four  years,  and 
over  4500  children  have  received  intensive  care  during  that  pe- 
riod, in  addition  to  the  many  hundreds  who  have  received  the 
special  attention  of  the  visitors  for  some  immediate  and  tempo- 
rary difficulty. 

The  report  of  the  work  here  presented  by  Miss  Johnson  is  the 
third  published  by  the  Association.  The  first,  by  Mrs.  Swan,  as 
already  noted,  appeared  in  the  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the 


IX 

City  Superintendent  of  Schools;  the  second,  by  Miss  Mary 
Flexner,  appeared  in  April,  1913,  as  Bulletin  No.  15  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. 

Miss  Johnson  was  released  from  regular  field  work  over  two 
years  ago  to  familiarize  herself  with  the  detailed  work  of  the  entire 
staff  and  to  compile,  with  their  cooperation,  a  more  comprehen- 
sive analysis  of  the  field  work  than  had  thus  far  been  attempted. 
This  was  considered  desirable,  not  only  because  of  the  fact  that 
New  York  City  itself  had  officially  begun  the  work  in  the  public 
schools,  but  because  similar  work  was  being  undertaken  through- 
out the  country.  A  comprehensive  statement  by  the  Association 
of  its  ideals  and  its  experience,  it  was  thought,  would  thus  make 
its  experiment  of  the  maximum  assistance  elsewhere. 

A  glance  at  the  following  report  will  show  how  thoroughly  Miss 
Johnson  has  achieved  this  purpose.  She  has  left  no  source  un- 
tapped from  which  the  information  necessary  to  make  clear  the 
nature  of  the  work  could  be  secured.  The  report  is  in  every  re- 
spect a  cooperative  achievement  and  expresses  accurately  and 
fully  what  the  staff  and  the  committee  regard  as  the  essentials  of 
the  work. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  this  report  should  in 
no  way  be  judged  as  a  statement  of  the  results  of  an  investiga- 
tion. The  data  presented  were  not  gathered  for  the  purpose  of 
compiling  a  report  to  prove  the  needs  of  difficult  children.  Rather 
they  simply  accumulated  in  the  daily  notes  and  records  kept  by 
the  visitors  in  their  efforts  to  secure  the  necessary  adjustments  in 
the  lives  of  the  children  submitted  to  their  care.  The  statistical 
form  used  throughout  the  second  part  is  therefore  intended,  not 
as  a  comprehensive  proof  of  specific  needs,  but  as  a  convenient 
method  of  presenting  in  a  comparative  way  the  complex  social 
data  which  have  come  up  as  vital  factors  in  the  regular  work  of 
the  visitors.  Such  data  are,  for  the  present  at  least,  almost  in- 
capable of  accurate  measurement,  but  are,  nevertheless,  even  in 
their  rough  form,  of  deep  significance  to  educational  procedure. 

These  tables  would  seem  to  indicate  that  school  difficulties 
which  express  themselves  in  terms  of  conduct  or  school  work  arise 
from  a  great  variety  of  sources  reaching  back  into  the  home  and 
the  community  and  at  times  into  the  school  itself,  and  that  they 
call  for  the  intensive  study  and  individual  treatment  which  the 
training  and  experience  of  the  visiting  teacher  make  possible. 
The  age-grade  table  alone  shows  to  what  extent  principals  and 


teachers  have  come  to  look  upon  retardation  as  a  complex  social 
as  well  as  purely  pedagogical  problem  and  have  called  upon  the 
visiting  teachers  to  aid  in  its  solution. 

It  is  particularly  gratifying  to  the  Association  to  be  able  to 
present  this  report  on  the  eve  of  the  First  National  Conference  of 
Visiting  Teachers,  which  will  be  held  in  New  York  City  during 
July,  in  conjunction  with  the  annual  convention  of  the  National 
Education  Association.  In  so  doing  it  trusts  that  its  experience 
may  be  of  national  assistance  in  creating  that  type  of  service  for 
individual,  maladjusted  children  in  the  schools  for  which  the 
visiting  teacher  work  stands. 

Howard  W.  Nudd,  Director. 
June  21,  1916. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Visiting  Teacher  experiment  was  undertaken  ten  years 
ago  in  the  belief  that,  if  the  school  could  extend  its  reach  into  the 
homes  of  the  children,  better  citizens  could  be  developed,  many 
failures  prevented,  and  future  expenditures  thereby  saved  to 
New  York  City.  When  a  child  grows  up  to  be  a  public  charge  or 
falls  below  his  or  her  possibilities  as  a  citizen,  whether  the  failure 
be  attributable  to  the  school  because  it  did  not  meet  his  needs,  or 
to  adverse  conditions  in  the  home,  the  State  sufifers  as  well  as 
the  individual  and  it  is  the  State  that  pays  the  cost.  The  State, 
therefore,  in  the  interest  of  its  own  future  and  for  the  sake  of 
economy,  must  adapt  its  instrument,  the  school,  to  meet  the 
problem  of  these  failures. 

The  visiting  teacher  is  the  arm  of  the  school  extended  into  the 
home  to  draw  the  school  and  the  home  together  for  the  benefit  of 
the  child.  It  is  her  work  to  visit  and  establish  friendly  relations 
with  the  homes  of  those  children  who  exhibit  the  first  symptoms 
of  falling  below  the  school  standard  in  scholarship  and  conduct. 
She  uses  every  available  means  to  make  the  child's  surroundings 
a  help  rather  than  a  menace  to  his  educational  progress.  Equally 
important,  she  brings  back  to  the  school  an  account  of  the  in- 
dividual characteristics  which  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
children  has  shown  to  exist,  and  reports  such  of  the  social  con- 
ditions as  indicate  the  district's  general  educational  needs.  The 
visiting  teachers  have  proved  again  and  again  in  the  past  that 
by  obtaining  cooperation  in  the  child's  home  and  by  giving  the 
school,  at  the  same  time,  a  better  understanding  of  his  environ- 
ment so  that  it  can  adapt  its  methods  to  his  particular  needs, 
the  most  unpromising  child  can  not  only  be  kept  from  the  courts, 
but  may  be  developed  into  a  potential  good  citizen. 

The  case  of  Miriam  is  one  in  point.  She  was  in  a  6B  grade. 
The  principal  reported  her  as  incorrigible  with  a  tendency  to- 
ward immorality,  unruly  in  the  classroom,  untruthful,  and  un- 
tidy in  appearance,  and  asked  the  visitor  to  take  her  out  of  school 
and  send  her  to  work.     When  the  visiting  teacher  called  at  the 

xi 


r 


Xll 

home  she  found  that  Miriam's  mother  had  died  a  short  time  be- 
fore, leaving  Miriam  in  charge  of  the  household  which  consisted 
of  her  father  who  was  out  of  work  and  two  brothers.  She  cooked 
the  meals,  washed  the  clothes,  and  took  the  place  of  the 
mother. 

Of  a  highly  sensitive  nature,  very  retiring  and  backward,  she 
made  few  girl  friends.  She  craved  love  and  affection,  was  very 
sympathetic,  but  there  was  no  outlet  for  these  emotions.  She 
was  untruthful,  but  she  told  tales  to  win  sympathy.  She  was  on 
the  street  at  night,  and  while  she  did  not  seek  companions  of  the 
lower  type,  they  came  to  her,  using  her  as  a  shield  to  cover  some 
of  their  wrongdoings. 

The  visiting  teacher  became  very  friendly  with  Miriam  and 
found  new  friends  for  her,  and  the  old  ones  were  given  up.  Through 
the  assistance  of  a  relief  organization  the  family  was  moved  to 
better  quarters.  Work  was  secured  for  the  father,  and  the 
younger  brother  was  placed  in  a  Hebrew  class  in  a  neighborhood 
organization. 

When  Miriam  was  promoted  to  the  seventh  grade  the  visiting 
teacher  watched  her  very  closely.  She  asked  that  the  child 
should  be  given  to  an  especially  sympathetic  teacher  to  whom  she 
told  the  story  of  her  home  life. 

Throughout  two  years,  the  visiting  teacher  followed  her  prog- 
ress. The  child  came  to  her  with  all  sorts  of  problems,  now  a  dis- 
couraging mark  in  school  work,  now  household  cares  that  needed 
school  help  for  their  adjustment  and  again  financial  difficulties 
caused  by  the  unemployment  of  her  father  or  brother.  Tutoring 
was  provided,  arrangements  were  made  to  excuse  her  a  little  early 
so  that  she  could  prepare  the  evening  meal  for  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath ;  and  plans  for  tiding  the  family  over  a  period  of  stress  were 
worked  out  with  the  agency  for  relief. 

Gradually  Miriam  showed  the  result  of  this  friendly  supervision. 
The  dime  novels  which  had  been  her  choice  and  rough  friends 
ceased  to  satisfy  her,  and  when  she  graduated  she  had  won  the 
affection  of  the  finest  girls  in  her  class  and  the  genuine  respect 
of  her  teachers.     All  trace  of  immoral  tendency  disappeared. 

The  class  teachers  appreciated  the  help  the  visitor  was  able  to 
give  in  relieving  them  of  a  very  difficult  problem.  They  realized 
that  the  work  of  the  visiting  teacher  was  of  the  type  for  which 
they  themselves  had  neither  the  time  nor  the  training. 

This  case  shows  the  intensive  method  of  the  visiting  teacher 


Xlll 

and  the  length  of  time  needed  in  order  to  save  this  child  from  the 
Juvenile  Court,  whither  she  was  headed. 

It  has  been  found  that  the  presence  of  a  visiting  teacher  in  the 
school  tends  to  stimulate  the  class  teachers  to  visit  the  homes  of 
their  pupils.  In  this  case,  however,  it  was  not  a  question  of  one 
or  two  visits  which  the  class  teacher  could  have  made  after  school 
hours,  but  rather  of  a  long  series  of  visits,  covering  a  period  of 
two  years,  not  only  to  the  home,  but  to  the  agencies  that  could  be 
of  practical  assistance  in  the  case.  During  this  period  Miriam 
had  had  at  least  four  teachers. 

The  training  of  the  visiting  teacher  dififers  from  that  of  other 
members  of  the  school  staff.  She  must  have  had  experience  in 
social  work  in  New  York  City  as  well  as  experience  in  teaching. 
She  must  understand  the  characteristics  and  prejudices  of  the 
people  among  whom  she  works.  She  must  have  the  power  to 
deal  effectively  with  adults  as  well  as  with  children.  She  must 
be  familiar  with  the  available  social  agencies  in  New  York,  par- 
ticularly with  those  in  her  district,  and  have  made  connection 
with  them.  She  must  know  the  institutions  outside  of  New 
York  that  take  city  cases.     Above  all  she  must  have  tact. 

The  case  of  Angelina  illustrates  another  aspect  of  the  visiting 
teacher  work.  Angelina  was  reported  to  the  visiting  teacher  for 
poor  work  in  the  third  grade,  for  constant  lateness  and  for  in- 
difference. She  was  a  tall  Italian  girl  of  ten,  awkward,  pale,  and 
shy.  The  teacher  suspected  that  Angelina  was  overworked  at 
home,  for  she  knew  that  she  "sewed  on  coats."  The  visiting 
teacher  found  the  home  thrifty  and  clean,  but  the  family  poor. 
To  supplement  the  father's  wages,  the  mother  "took  coats"  from 
a  garment  factory.  Angelina,  the  only  daughter,  helped  with 
the  sewing,  swept  the  apartment  and  did  other  housework  be- 
fore school.  This  kept  her  late  so  that  each  morning  began  with 
a  reproof  from  the  teacher  and  the  school  work  was  taken  up  by 
a  discouraged  child.  In  addition,  she  was  never  allowed  to 
play  on  the  street,  so  that  she  did  not  get  enough  fresh  air.  She 
heard  nothing  but  Italian  at  home,  so  that  her  school  work  was 
practically  in  a  foreign  language. 

On  the  first  visit  the  visiting  teacher  found  that  Angelina  was 
made  to  sew  all  the  afternoon,  more  as  a  matter  of  course  and  as 
proper  employment  for  an  Italian  girl  than  because  of  economic 
need,  but  she  did  not  press  the  subject  of  the  child's  work.  In- 
stead, she  asked  her  to  read  aloud.     Though  the  mother  could 


XIV 

not  understand,  she  knew  when  Angelina  was  being  corrected  or 
commended.  She  was  much  interested  and  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  the  "American  lady"  thought  reading  a  matter  of  im- 
portance to  Angelina.  Since  her  daughter's  mistakes  were  evi- 
dently many,  it  was  not  hard  to  persuade  her  to  allow  the  child 
to  read  for  half  an  hour  every  day,  sitting  on  the  fire-escape  to 
insure  light  and  fresh  air.  She  was  also  urged  to  send  Angelina 
to  school  early. 

The  teacher  was  told  of  the  home  situation  and  was  asked  to 
be  lenient  about  lateness  while  the  mother  was  learning.  In- 
stead of  being  reproved  for  lateness,  Angelina  was  commended 
for  improvement  and  the  days  started  better.  After  a  Httle 
time,  the  lateness  and  even  tardiness  ceased.  The  half  hours  of 
fresh  air  and  practice  in  reading  aloud  showed  results,  and  later 
the  mother  was  persuaded  that  an  hour's  play  with  other  girls 
on  the  street  in  daylight  would  not  hurt  her  daughter's  morals, 
but  might  improve  her  health  and  stimulate  her  interest.  With 
the  encouragement  of  the  teacher  and  visiting  teacher,  the  child's 
work  improved  so  much  that  she  was  promoted  to  a  special  class 
in  which  she  did  two  terms'  work  in  one,  at  the  same  time  gain- 
ing in  vigor,  confidence  and  good  spirits.  Incidentally,  there 
was  no  longer  a  problem  of  "sewing  on  coats." 

This,  then,  was  a  case  of  converting  a  poor  and  indifferent 
scholar,  headed  probably  towards  repeating  her  grade,  into  a 
zealous  student  doing  two  years'  work  in  one.  The  cost  of 
at  least  one  year  of  schooling  was  saved  to  the  child  and  to  the 
city,  and  a  misfit  child  was  turned  into  a  promising  woman 
through  the  extension  of  the  school  arm  into  this  foreign  home. 

The  extension  of  the  influence  of  the  school  through  the  visiting 
teacher  is  particularly  needed  in  a  city  like  New  York,  where 
the  population  is  heterogeneous  and  shifting,  where  the  schools 
are  large  and  congested,  and  where  so  many  schools  are  included 
in  one  system.  The  parents  of  our  school  children  are,  many 
of  them,  like  Angelina's  mother,  ignorant  of  the  value  of  educa- 
tion and  of  the  ideals  which  the  school  is  trying  to  inculcate. 
The  crowded  schools  prevent  the  teachers  from  giving  sufficient 
individual  attention  to  the  children  in  the  classrooms  or  from 
influencing  to  any  appreciable  degree  their  homes.  The  size  of 
the  system  has  made  it  seem  necessary  in  the  past  to  organize 
all  schools  alike,  with  uniform  methods  and  standards,  regardless 


XV 

of  the  racial  and  national  characteristics  of  districts  which  repre- 
sent widely  differing  school  needs. 

The  visiting  teacher,  experienced  both  in  social  work  and  in 
teaching,  explains  the  aims  of  the  school  concretely  to  the  par- 
ents, as  in  the  case  of  Angelina's  mother,  and,  gaining  their  co-  \ 
operation  wherever  possible,  makes  whatever  changes  and  ad- 
justments are  necessary  in  the  home,  in  order  that  the  child  may 
gain  the  full  benefit  of  his  school  training.  She  also  explains  the 
home  situation  in  detail  to  the  teacher,  so  that  the  child  is  in- 
dividualized, however  large  the  class.  She  reports  to  the  prin- 
cipal the  gaps  and  dangers  in  the  child's  surroundings  which  it  is 
necessary  for  the  school  to  supplement  and  meet.  She  thus 
stimulates  cooperation  between  the  home  and  the  school. 

The  need  for  sufficient  flexibility  to  enable  each  school  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  children  in  its  district  is  becoming  gen- 
erally recognized.  In  this  connection  the  visiting  teacher  can 
be  of  signal  assistance.  She  not  only  knows  the  individual 
families,  but  she  knows  the  social  and  industrial  life  of  the  dis- 
trict, which  knowledge,  combined  with  her  experience  in  teaching, 
enables  her  to  help  the  principal  in  adapting  the  school  to  the 
needs  of  the  neighborhood. 

To  sum  up,  if  the  school  is  to  accomplish  fully  its  purpose  of 
training  children  for  good  citizenship,  it  must  see  to  it  that  the  home 
and  school  work  together  for  the  benefit  of  each  individual  child. 

It  has  been  said  that  New  York  City  children  are  "under  school 
instruction  950  hours,  or  approximately  one-ninth  of  their 
entire  time.  This  record  might  be  allowable  for  village  life  or 
for  the  countryside,  but  it  does  not  belong  to  the  teeming,  dis- 
tracting life  of  a  metropolis  whose  perils  and  temptations  beset 
the  child  at  every  turn.  That  vital  thing  called  character  can- 
not be  shaped  and  determined  in  one-ninth  of  the  child's  time." 

This  is  true,  particularly,  if  neither  the  school  nor  the  home  is 
giving  the  child  the  kind  of  training  he  individually  needs.  Ex- 
tend the  school  year  if  you  will,  but  bear  in  mind  that  the  visiting 
teacher  not  only  extends  the  school  influence  but  helps  adapt  it 
to  the  child  every  day  in  the  school  year. 

Nathalie  Henderson  Swan, 
Chairman,  Visiting  Teacher  Committee 


THE  VISITING  TEACHER 
IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


PART  I 

THE  SCOPE  AND  FUNCTION  OF  VISITING 
TEACHER  WORK 

SOCIALIZING  THE  SCHOOL  AND  INDIVIDUALIZING  THE  CHILD 

The  work  of  the  visiting  teacher  is  not  radically  new,  but 
rather  a  very  natural  extension  of  the  function  of  the  public 
schools  as  a  child  welfare  agency,  adapted  to  meet  the  social 
needs  of  children  in  a  large  municipal  organization. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  school  regarded  itself  as  concerned 
only  with  the  academic  instruction  of  the  children  under  its 
care,  and  when  social  interests  and  needs  were  foreign  elements 
not  relevant  to  the  big  task  of  education.  An  inevitable  change, 
however,  has  come  with  the  changing  times. 

The  doctors  and  nurses  have  found  their  way  into  the  school  at 
the  call  of  the  child  who  is  physically  unfit  for  school  work;  the 
curriculum  has  been  made  to  yield  to  the  needs  of  children  who  are 
mentally  disqualified;  and  still  there  is  a  group  of  pupils  who 
seem  unable  to  take  their  training  in  wholesale  fashion,  but  need 
more  individualized  treatment.  They  are  below  standard  in 
scholarship  without  belonging  to  the  mentally  sub-normal  class, 
they  are  difficult  in  conduct  without  being  disciplinary  cases, 
and  though  they  avoid  truancy  they  are  not  in  constant  atten- 
dance. 

There  are,  moreover,  the  adolescent  girls,  irritable  and  neurotic, 
who  are  getting  poor  marks  in  scholarship  and  conduct  because 
they  need  country  care  or  medical  advice,  or  perhaps  only  the 
understanding  sympathy  of  a  friend.  There  are  the  slow  girls 
who  have  had  an  increase  of  home  duties  placed  on  their  shoulders 
at  the  time  when  school  demands  are  also  increasing.  There  are 
the  restless  children  who  have  begun  to  strain  at  the  tether,  whom 
school  does  not  interest  because  it  is  not  as  real  to  them  as  life 
outside  its  walls  and  whom  the  great  world  of  industry  will  seize 
if  activities  and  interests  are  not  provided.  There  are  the  re-» 
tarded  children  who  are  reaching  the  limit  of  their  mental  develop- 
ment and  paying  the  deferred   bills  of  early  malnutrition  or 


heredity,  and  who  are  needing  special  guidance.  Adolescence, 
individual  departure  from  the  accepted  average,  mental  retarda- 
tion and  the  urge  that  sends  the  boy  and  girl  out  into  the  world  of 
accomplishment  are  not  phenomenal  problems.  They  are  ever 
recurring  factors  and  must  be  reckoned  with  by  the  schools  if 
opportunity  and  a  chance  for  development  are  to  be  offered. 
These,  then,  are  the  children  for  whom  the  help  of  the  visiting 
teacher  is  enlisted. 

As  they  come  under  her  care  they  fall  naturally  into  two 
large  groups.  First,  there  are  those  demanding  a  more  thorough 
knowledge  and  understanding  of  the  child's  personality  and  of 
the  conditions  under  which  he  lives,  so  that  the  school  or  the  home 
can  meet  his  needs  more  intelligently.  Second,  there  are  those 
needing  some  definite  social  adjustment,  such  as  a  change  in  home 
conditions,  treatment  for  physical  disability,  or  opportunity  for 
play  or  wholesome  activity. 

The  question  often  arises  as  to  whether  the  interests  of  school 
children  could  not  be  best  served  by  the  regular  class  teachers, 
who  should  be  considering  all  phases  of  the  lives  of  their  pupils 
in  the  effort  to  give  them  training  for  the  future.  This  is  ideally 
true,  and  many  teachers  are  already  giving  long  hours  of  thought 
and  of  actual  service  to  work  with  pupils  outside  the  classroom, 
not  only  on  school  subjects  but  also  in  order  to  understand  the 
conditions  under  which  they  are  living. 

In  the  schools  of  the  future  there  will  be  possible  a  much  more 
adequate  study  of  individual  children,  and  greater  opportunity 
for  adjustments  to  meet  their  needs,  so  that  the  first  group  of 
children  cited  above  will  be  cared  for  without  outside  help.  In 
the  congested  districts,  however,  even  after  the  schools  are  re- 
organized on  social  lines,  there  will  be  many  adjustments  neces- 
sary, which  will  require  the  services  of  a  trained  worker,  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  city's  resources.  She  must  be  a  representative 
of  the  school,  so  that  she  may  understand  the  teachers'  problems, 
but  her  hours  must  be  so  arranged  that  she  is  free  to  confer  with 
representatives  of  social  agencies  whenever  the  need  arises,  and 
so  that  she  can  visit  the  homes  of  children  at  the  time  that  best 
suits  her  purpose.  Such  training  as  this  work  requires  has  not 
yet  been  offered  students  in  training  schools  and  colleges,  nor  is 
there  any  provision  for  it  in  the  school  program.  Teachers  are 
calling  at  the  homes  of  their  pupils  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in 
all  schools, — more  rather  than  less  since  the  visiting  teachers 


began  their  work,  and  there  is  a  unanimity  of  opinion  among  those 
who  have  actually  done  such  visiting  as  to  the  value  of  the  social 
relationship  that  is  thus  established.  Such  calls,  however,  often 
reveal  many  needs  which,  if  followed  up,  would  lead  ihe  visitor 
to  the  doors  of  many  public  and  private  institutions.  An  ade- 
quate handling  of  them  is  therefore  impossible  at  the  present 
time  without  the  help  of  a  special  stafif. 

FUNCTION  OF  THE  VISITING  TEACHER 
The  function  of  the  visiting  teacher  is  the  adjustment  of  condi- 
tions in  the  lives  of  individual  children,  to  the  end  that  they  may 
make  more  normal  or  more  profitable  school  progress.  These 
adjustments  may  be  made  in  the  school,  in  the  home,  or  in  the 
environment,  wherever  there  proves  to  be  an  adverse  condition 
responsible  for  school  conduct,  scholarship  or  attendance,  or 
influencing  it  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  Such  adjustments 
should  make  the  years  spent  in  school  a  better  paying  investment 
to  the  teacher  who  is  giving  the  best  of  her  life  to  those  years, 
and  to  the  child,  who  too  often  has  the  attitude  of  serving  time 
rather  than  of  drawing  interest.  Such  work  forms  the  basis  of 
a  visiting  teacher's  activity  in  the  school. 

One  of  her  first  tasks  is  that  of  interpretation.  She  is  the 
mutual  friend  who  helps  to  acquaint  the  teacher  with  the  parent 
and  the  child.  With  her  knowledge  of  the  problems  confronting 
the  teacher,  she  can  interpret  the  school  requirements  to  the 
parents,  and  enlist  their  cooperation.  By  passing  on  to  the 
teacher  the  results  of  her  observation  of  the  child  at  his  work  and 
play  and  by  her  knowledge  of  the  influences  in  his  environment, 
and  most  of  all  by  the  informal  and  sympathetic  relationship  she 
can  establish  with  the  child,  she  can  help  make  the  school  a  more 
vital  part  of  his  life  and  can  give  the  teacher  knowledge  of  his 
interests  and  his  handicaps  which  can  help  her  in  classroom  work. 
When  school  spells  joy  to  a  child,  joy  in  work,  in  play  and  in 
precious  relationships,  then  there  will  be  little  need  for  concern 
regarding  discipline,  retardation  or  attendance,  for  these  ogres 
will  be  laid  low  as  far  as  mentally  normal  children  are  concerned. 

Studying  the  Neighborhood 
In  the  course  of  dealing  with  the  children  under  her  care,  the 
visiting  teacher  makes  an  informal  survey  of  the  neighborhood 
where  her  school  is  located,  asking  herself  such  questions  as  the 


following:  Of  what  nationality  is  the  neighborhood  made  up, 
and  what,  in  general,  is  the  standard  of  living  and  of  education? 
What  are  the  types  of  dwelling?  What  industries  employ  the 
fathers  and  mothers  of  the  school  children  and  do  they  also 
employ  child  labor?  What  play  opportunities  does  the  neighbor- 
hood present  in  its  parks  and  playgrounds,  its  churches  or  settle- 
ments? What  agencies  exist  there  that  ofifer  additional  educational 
advantages  to  the  children  and  what  special  experiments  are 
being  made  in  the  regular  schools  to  meet  the  problems  of  the 
exceptional  children?  Are  there  trade,  high,  vocational  or  con- 
tinuation schools  which  can  be  used?  What  societies  are  avail- 
able for  relief,  correction  or  medical  assistance? 

These  general  questions  are  particularly  applied  as  the  children 
are  referred  to  her,  emphasis  being  laid  wherever  special  need  is 
shown,  but  in  the  answer  to  them  the  visiting  teacher  makes  her- 
self acquainted  with  the  various  social  service  agencies  through 
which  she  can  bring  about  the  correlation  of  activities  in  individ- 
ual cases.  She  can,  moreover,  bring  back  to  the  school  a  more 
intimate  knowledge  of  neighborhood  conditions  than  it  could 
otherwise  obtain. 

At  the  time  of  this  study  the  visiting  teachers  of  the  Public 
Education  Association  were  placed  in  eight  schools  in  New  York 
City,  in  districts  where  conditions  are  fairly  typical  of  those  exist- 
ing over  the  city  at  large.  A  description  of  these  districts  will 
illustrate  the  diversity  of  the  social,  economic  and  racial  problem 
presented  to  the  visitor. 

The  neighborhoods  chosen  were  purposely  very  varied,  repre- 
senting different  problems  of  race  and  environment.  Five  of 
the  schools  had  a  large  percentage  of  foreign  children  of  various 
nationalities.  In  one  the  majority  were  Bohemians,  though  it 
had  also  many  Hungarians,  Germans,  ItaHans,  Irish  and  Hebrews; 
in  two  the  Jewish  element  predominated,  and  in  two  the  Italian. 
Three  were  very  cosmopolitan,  having  representatives  from  at 
least  a  dozen  nationalities  with  a  large  proportion  of  English- 
speaking  families. 

There  was  the  neighborhood  where  the  immigrant  Hebrews 
are  housed  in  almost  uniformly  old-type  tenements,  where 
sweat-shop  garment  factories  employ  most  of  the  men,  where 
overcrowding  is  extreme,  and  where  parks  and  playgrounds  are 
few. 

There  was,  also,  the  Italian  community,  with  its  color  and  the 


lyric  quality  of  its  people  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  poverty  and 
poor  housing  conditions  press  insistently.  There  the  prevalence 
of  tenement  industry  is  a  feature  to  be  reckoned  with,  for  tiny 
fingers  can  make  flowers  and  feathers  and  pull  bastings,  and  this, 
more  than  almost  any  other  industrial  condition,  reacts  upon  the 
school. 

There  are  three  very  distinct  economic  strata  represented  in  the 
districts  where  the  Italians  were  found.  In  the  first,  and  lowest, 
the  men  are  largely  laborers,  with  long  periods  of  unemployment, 
and  the  women  work  in  the  garment  factories  under  Hebrew 
employers.  The  standards  of  living  are  low.  There  is  much 
overcrowding  due  to  lodgers  and  boarders.  The  full,  nourishing, 
Italian  dietary  has  been  reduced  and  the  children  show  the  fact 
in  stunted  bodies  and  laggard  minds.  There  is  little  ambition 
for  education  and  little  appreciation  of  the  school  except  as  an 
evil  to  be  avoided  whenever  possible.  In  the  second,  while  there 
is  much  exploitation  of  the  children  in  tenement  manufactures, 
there  are  more  men  in  the  skilled  trades  and  fewer  women  in  the 
factories.  The  dramatic  clubs  and  art  classes  in  the  settlements 
show  groups  of  ambitious  young  boys  and  girls,  and  the  grad- 
uating classes  in  the  schools  have  a  fair  percentage  of  children 
going  to  high  schools.  There  is  a  very  different  attitude  toward 
education  on  the  part  of  the  parents.  The  third,  a  cosmopolitan 
neighborhood,  tells  a  different  story.  There  the  Italian  parents 
are  ambitious  for  their  children  and  very  eager  to  cooperate  with 
the  schools.  The  men  are  in  skilled  and  unionized  trades  or  are 
city  employees.  There  are  no  tenement  industries  and  the 
women  are  in  the  homes  with  no  other  occupation  than  to  attend 
to  the  housework. 

The  work  of  one  visiting  teacher  lay  in  the  middle  West  Side, 
where  there  are  left  the  old  Irish  and  German-American  families 
who  have  not  moved  with  the  tide  as  the  city  has  grown.  These 
families  are  largely  those  that  have  had  too  little  ambition  or  too 
little  prosperity  to  set  up  their  household  gods  in  a  new  field, 
and  there  are  found  the  problems  of  poverty,  of  ill-health  and 
social  maladjustment  and  of  school  retardation  in  most  pressing 
form. 

In  direct  contrast  was  an  uptown  neighborhood,  where  the 
tenements  are  of  the  better  type,  either  new-law  buildings  or 
remodelled  old  ones,  where  the  families  are  largely  American  born 
and  almost  all  English  speaking,  where  there  are  no  factories  nor 


6 

home  manufacture,  and  where  a  large  percentage  of  the  parents 
have  had  American  school  education. 

Farther  downtown,  very  similar  conditions  were  found  as  far 
as  nationality  and  education  are  concerned.  This  neighborhood 
is  probably  more  nearly  an  average  one  than  any  other,  for  there 
are  foreigners  and  American  born,  old  New  Yorkers  and  newly 
arrived  immigrants.  There  are  also  to  be  found  well  furnished 
apartments  and  wretched  rear  tenements,  both  dire  poverty  and 
comfortable  independence,  the  ill-paid  factory  employee  and  the 
day  laborer,  and  all  grades  of  salaried  workers  and  small  business 
men. 

Studying  the  Child 

Having  made  herself  familiar  with  her  neighborhood,  the  visit- 
ing teacher  must  take  into  consideration  with  each  individual 
case  the  immediate  difificulty  and  the  child's  past  school  record. 
She  also  attempts  to  establish  a  personal  and  friendly  relationship 
with  him  and  to  find  out  how  far  the  school  maladjustment 
repeats  itself  in  his  outside  life.  What  kind  of  a  member  of 
society  is  he?  How  is  he  regarded  by  his  family  and  his  mates? 
What  tastes  or  interests  does  he  show  and  what  capabilities  and 
aptitudes  in  the  world  where  he  is  not  judged  by  academic 
standards?  To  what  extent  are  these  interests  and  these  apti- 
tudes made  part  of  the  school  life?  How  can  school  requirements 
be  modified  or  supplemented  to  adjust  the  immediate  difificulty 
and  to  bring  the  child  into  more  harmonious  relationship  with 
his  school  environment?  What  are  his  home  conditions?  The 
replies  to  these  questions  will  include  the  general  social  and 
economic  status  of  his  family  and  will  also  take  cognizance  of 
any  special  temporary  condition  brought  about  through  illness, 
unemployment  or  other  misfortune  which  tends  to  disturb  the 
welfare  of  the  home.  To  what  extent  can  the  child's  family  be 
depended  upon  for  help  in  correcting  his  difficulty  and  what  sort 
of  cooperation  can  be  given?  What  can  be  done  to  bring  the 
parents  and  the  school  into  closer  touch  and  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  each  other? 

TREATMENT  OF   INDIVIDUAL   CHILDREN 

In  examining  the  work  of  the  visiting  teachers,  it  seems  to  fall 
into  two  rather  definite  lines.  First  in  importance  comes  the 
analysis  of  individual  children.     This  is  essentially  the  work  of 


the  visiting  teacher  in  the  efifort  to  trace  back  the  school  diffi- 
culty to  its  cause  and  to  make  adjustments  that  will  place  the 
child  in  a  more  sympathetic  relationship  with  his  school  environ- 
ment. It  involves  observation  of  the  child  in  school  and  out- 
side, a  knowledge  of  conditions  that  are  affecting  him,  made 
possible  by  frequent  and  informal  interviews  held  as  friend  and 
adviser  rather  than  as  coercive  and  authoritative  agent,  and  it  very 
frequently  means  securing  the  cooperation  of  other  persons  or  or- 
ganizations. All  this  work  has,  however,  one  end,  that  of  under- 
standing the  child  and  his  needs  and  of  helping  him  get  the  full 
value  of  his  school  course. 

TREATMENT   OF   GROUPS   OR   CLASSES   OF   CHILDREN 

The  second  phase  of  the  visiting  teacher's  activities  has  grown 
out  of  the  need  her  acquaintance  with  the  children  has  shown.  It 
is  work  with  groups  or  with  the  school  as  a  whole,  in  contrast  to 
the  intensive  study  of  individuals.  It  has  been  made  possible 
only  because  of  the  experimental  character  of  the  work  and  because 
of  the  attitude  of  the  Public  Education  Association,  that  the 
work  should  be  allowed  to  develop  as  the  situation  in  a  particular 
school  or  district  indicated  as  desirable. 

It  has  taken  the  form,  first,  of  clubs  and  classes,  formed  pri- 
marily as  a  means  of  working  out  specific  problems  with  individual 
children,  but  including,  besides,  pupils  not  otherwise  in  the  care 
of  the  visiting  teacher.  The  membership  in  these  clubs  is  small 
and  is  chosen  on  the  basis  of  the  need  of  the  child  for  the  specific 
activity  provided.  The  records  of  past  years  show  the  following 
groups  gathered  together  to  supply  supplementary  activity  or 
special  assistance  in  school  work;  dramatic,  gymnastic,  basket- 
ball, knitting,  sewing,  reading  and  library  clubs,  dancing  classes, 
excursions  and  study  hours. 

Furthermore,  various  experiments  have  been  made  at  the  soli- 
citation or  with  the  cooperation  of  the  principals,  experiments 
attempted  because  of  more  general  and  perhaps  more  universal 
needs  among  school  children,  and  undertaken  with  a  purpose  of 
linking  up  with  the  children  the  activities  of  outside  agencies 
working  for  the  welfare  of  the  child  in  the  community  and  also 
of  extending  the  function  of  the  school  itself. 

These  have  taken  the  form  of  housekeeping  classes  for  girls  in 
the  lower  grades,  clubs  to  estabHsh  a  social  relationship  between 
older  and  younger  pupils,  clinical  examination  and  treatment  and 


8 

special  diet  for  mal-nourished  children,  mental  examination  of 
retarded  groups,  lectures  at  parents'  meetings  and  in  teachers' 
conferences,  and  work  in  forming  school  and  neighborhood  asso- 
ciations. 

The  material  thus  gathered  and  the  demonstration  made  by  the 
visiting  teacher  have  been  used  in  the  various  schools  as  a  basis 
for  the  extension  of  fresh  air,  ungraded  or  industrial  classes,  the 
wider  use  of  the  school  plant,  and  the  introduction  of  the  school 
lunch. 

It  is  a  recognition  of  the  social  needs  of  children  that  has 
brought  to  the  visiting  teacher  a  demand  for  this  sort  of  service. 
Its  extent  is  bounded  only  by  the  limits  of  time  and  human 
effort,  and  will  be  wider  when  the  school  plans  for  a  social  service 
department  as  a  part  of  its  organization. 

The  success  of  social  work  in  the  school  depends  in  large 
measure  upon  the  relationship  the  visitor  is  able  to  establish. 

Cooperating  with  the  School 
It  is,  of  course,  essential  that  the  visiting  teacher  should  have  a 
well-defined  official  standing  in  a  school  as  a  member  of  the  staff, 
but  she  could  never  work  out  her  plans  for  the  children  under  her 
care  by  the  force  of  any  authority  she  might  be  given  over  them 
or  over  the  teachers.  She  can  be  effective  in  a  school  only  as 
she  can  make  the  teachers  realize  that  she  understands  their 
problems  and  that  if  her  work  is  primarily  to  help  the  children 
and  give  them  fuller  opportunity,  that  help  must  be  given  in  such 
a  way  that  it  will  be  felt  as  an  assistance,  not  a  hindrance  in  the 
classroom  and  in  the  principal's  office. 

Freed  from  the  routine  requirements  that  beset  the  class 
teacher  at  every  turn,  with  her  program  of  work  so  flexible  that 
it  can  be  changed  to  meet  the  day's  needs,  and  most  important 
of  all,  dealing  with  individuals  instead  of  large  masses,  the  visit- 
ing teacher  has  an  unusual  opportunity  to  give, valuable  service 
in  a  school,  both  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  individual  children 
whom  she  can  help  and  of  the  principal  who  can  use  in  his  ad- 
ministration the  facts  about  social  conditions,  agencies  for  child 
welfare  and  special  needs  of  school  children  that  are  brought  to 
his  notice  by  such  a  visitor. 

The  children  with  whom  the  visiting  teacher  is  working  do  not 
fall  definitely  into  one  or  another  of  the  classifications  described 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  but  each  case  may  present  more  than  one 


problem  and  may  require  more  than  one  kind  of  treatment  for 
its  successful  solution. 

The  following  accounts,  taken  from  the  case  records  of  the 
visiting  teachers,  present  in  concrete  form  the  need  which  exists 
in  the  school  for  this  kind  of  interpretative  work,  and  the  method 
and  procedure  of  those  now  attempting  it. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  CASES 
I 

The  story  of  Giovanetta  Marlella*  shows  the  value  to  the  child 
and  to  the  school  of  an  extended  supervision.  Cases  are  often 
continued  throughout  several  years  and  sometimes  do  not  cease 
when  the  school  passes  them  on  to  work  or  to  higher  educational 
institutions.  Giovanetta  was  reported  to  the  "visitor"  from  the 
fifth  grade  for  "disorder."  On  making  the  child's  acquaintance, 
the  visiting  teacher  found  her  the  oldest  girl  in  a  very  large  family, 
with  a  rather  delicate  and  very  foreign  mother  who  gave  most  of 
the  responsibility  of  the  younger  children  and  of  the  housekeeping 
to  this  thirteen-year-old  daughter.  The  father  was  hard-working, 
but  autocratic  in  his  family,  inclined  to  be  brutal  if  opposed, 
though  proud  and  ambitious  for  his  children. 

Giovanetta's  behavior  was  very  evidently  an  adolescent  mani- 
festation, and  a  transfer  to  a  special  class  in  another  school  not 
only  wrought  the  change  in  her  manners  but  gave  her  the  inspira- 
tion for  education  which  has  kept  her  in  school  past  her  sixteenth 
birthday  with  the  ambition  to  graduate  from  high  school. 

The  difficulties  besetting  her  way  were  not  all  settled  when  her 
temporary  restlessness  was  over.  The  visiting  teacher  followed 
her  to  the  new  school  and  kept  in  close  touch  with  her  teachers 
and  with  her  progress.  During  the  last  year  in  elementary  school, 
one  of  the  teachers  complained  that  she  was  cheating  in  her 
lessons  The  visiting  teacher  objected  to  the  term,  insisting  that 
if  Giovanetta  was  dishonest,  there  was  some  emergency  at  home 
that  was  making  the  preparation  of  lessons  impossible.  Investiga- 
tion revealed  that  a  well-meaning  friend,  knowing  that  gradua- 
tion was  coming  and  that  a  dress  and  shoes  must  be  bought,  had 
offered  the  child  a  chance  to  work  after  school.  She  was  waiting 
on  table  and  washing  dishes  from  5  to  9.30  P.  M.,  after  which  she 
went  home  and  tried  vainly  to  get  her  lessons  for  the  next  day. 
Help  was  given  her  for  the  graduation  outfit,  some  tutoring  was 
provided  and  she  w^as  also  granted  a  scholarship  to  make  possible 
the  high  school  course  she  was  looking  forward  to  with  rapt  en- 
thusiasm. 

All  through  her  first  year  in  high  school  she  came  to  the  visiting 
teacher  for  frequent  conferences.  The  teachers  were  visited  and 
help  was  given  her  in  the  selection  of  her  courses  of  study.  When 

*  All  names  are  fictitious. 


10 


her  mid-term  marks  were  discouragingly  low,  special  tutoring 
was  provided  through  volunteer  help,  and  work  in  the  country 
for  the  summer  was  secured.  For  four  years  now  this  girl  has 
been  known  to  the  visiting  teacher,  who  has  been  all  that  time 
her  "adviser"  in  school  affairs. 


II 

The  story  of  Ben  illustrates  the  value  of  long-continued  work 
on  a  case  and  intensive  study  of  the  treatment  necessary  for  boys 
of  similar  temperament. 

Ben,  ten  years  old,  reported  for  bad  conduct,  had  been  in  a  gang 
of  young  thieves,  three  of  whom  had  been  sent  to  an  institution. 
The  principal  suspected  that  the  boy  might  have  chorea,  for  his 
conduct  in  the  classroom  was  so  uncontrolled.  His  teachers 
believed  him  to  be  irrational  and  were  quite  worn  out  by  his  dis- 
orderly behavior.  His  mother  told  the  principal  that  she  was 
almost  distracted  by  the  boy's  wildness  and  that  she  thought 
nothing  would  cure  him  but  poisoning.  The  visiting  teacher 
recorded,  after  a  careful  study  and  observation  of  the  child: 
"excitable,  friendly,  talkative,  full  of  initiative,  intelligent,  keen 
observation,  good  retentive  memory,  suggestible.  Demands 
constant  excitement.  Is  fond  of  lessons  but  seems  extremely 
nervous  and  high-strung." 

An  examination  by  a  neurologist  revealed  a  highly  neurotic 
condition,  for  which  electric  treatment  was  recommended  and 
also  care  in  a  convalescent  home  in  the  country,  if  the  boy 
showed  some  effort  toward  control.  The  doctor  talked  with 
Ben  about  his  conduct  and  he  was  quite  able  to  grasp  the  idea  of 
his  need  for  self-control.  He  was  much  interested  in  suggestions 
made  at  the  hospital  and  soon  went  to  the  country  with  promises 
of  good  behavior.  There  he  proved  to  be  very  difficult  and  was 
sent  home  before  his  time  was  up.  He  was  greatly  disappointed 
since  he  had  been  very  happy  at  the  home  and  had  enjoyed 
the  out-of-door  life  and  the  regular  hours.  In  a  few  days  he 
wrote  such  an  appealing  letter  to  the  admission  committee 
that  they  decided  to  readmit  him,  and  soon,  through  the  visiting 
teacher's  help,  the  child  returned  for  two  more  months  of  country 
care. 

Ben  gave  no  trouble  this  time  and  came  back  quite  a  different 
boy,  both  at  school  and  at  home,  where  his  mother  marvelled  at 
his  good  manners  and  helpfulness.  Connection  was  reestablished 
at  the  clinic  so  that  he  could  be  kept  under  treatment,  and  the 
visitor  followed  the  child's  progress  at  school. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  term,  however,  reports  of  troublesome 
conduct  began  again,  but  the  teacher  added  that  Ben  had  an 
unusual  capacity  for  work  and  that  he  accomplished  more  in  the 
morning's  session  than  any  other  boy  in  the  grade.  Principal, 
teacher  and  visiting  teacher  decided  that  if  the  latter  could  pro- 


II 

vide  a  suitable  and  safe  place  for  Ben  to  spend  his  afternoons,  he 
should  be  excused  from  attending  the  afternoon  session  at  school. 
A  settlement  roof  garden  offered  the  opportunity  for  quiet  and 
fresh  air  from  one  to  three  o'clock,  and,  on  the  half-time  plan, 
the  boy  finished  the  school  year  successfully  and  was  sent  to  the 
country  again  for  the  summer. 

The  following  September,  before  his  return  to  the  city,  the 
visiting  teacher  was  consulted,  and  instead  of  having  Ben  enter 
school,  she  had  him  placed  in  a  private  institution  in  the  country 
where  boys  of  the  neurotic  type  are  given  special  care  and  train- 
ing. After  nine  months  in  this  boarding  school  he  returned 
to  the  city  and  re-entered  public  school,  where  he  is  now  able  to 
take  his  place  with  the  other  pupils.  A  "Big  Brother"  has 
adopted  Ben  and  is  cooperating  with  the  visiting  teacher  to 
develop  new  interests  and  habits.  By  this  method  of  careful 
study  and  supervision  he  has  been  helped  through  a  very  crit- 
ical and  unstable  period  and  as  far  as  the  result  of  the  care  given 
him  can  be  estimated,  it  has  saved  him  from  the  life  of  a  gangster 
and  is  making  of  him  a  useful  citizen. 

Ill 

The  case  of  William  C.  illustrates  one  of  the  phases  of  what  is 
termed  "personal  supervision."  School  often  holds  more  for  a 
child  than  he  has  ever  realized,  and  when  the  opportunities  al- 
ready open  to  him  are  made  available  in  the  school  and  the  com- 
munity, by  the  friendly  ofBces  of  the  visitor,  the  results  are  felt 
all  along  the  line. 

William,  15  years  old,  was  reported  to  the  visiting  teacher 
several  times  for  various  reasons.  The  teacher  was  discouraged 
with  him  because  he  was  overage  and  retarded.  WiUiam  him- 
self came  to  ask  about  leaving  school  and  going  to  work,  and  his 
mother  complained  that  the  children  were  all  very  disrespectful 
to  her  owing  to  their  father's  bad  treatment  of  her. 

The  mother,  it  seemed,  had  been  insane,  and  the  children  had 
been  placed  in  a  Home  at  one  time  while  she  was  in  an  asylum. 
She  was  still  restless  and  erratic  and  WiUiam  felt  very  unhappy 
and  wished  to  get  work  so  that  he  would  no  longer  be  dependent 
upon  his  parents. 

A  tutor  was  found  for  the  boy  and  the  interest  of  the  rector  and 
parish  visitor  of  his  church  was  enHsted ;  he  was  placed  by  them 
in  a  Boy  Scout  group.  The  financial  pressure  was  relieved  by 
securing  him  a  scholarship  so  that  he  could  feel  that  he  was  making 
his  contribution  to  the  family  budget.  The  family  was  also 
given  some  financial  assistance  through  interested  friends. 

At  promotion  time  he  became  a  member  of  a  class  that  was 
working  especially  on  the  formation  of  habits  in  which  the  psy- 
chology of  habit  forming  was  explained  in  a  simple  way,  and  the 
children  were  stimulated  by  their  group  association  to  under- 
take some  definite  training  along  certain  prescribed  lines. 


12 

The  results  of  these  combined  efforts  were  gratifying.  William 
lost  his  sullen  manner  and  became  friendly  and  happy  in  school 
and  much  more  respectful  and  obedient  at  home.  His  school 
work  has  improved  remarkably  and  during  the  year  he  has 
covered  the  work  of  the  6th  and  7th  grades. 

IV 

Sadie  C.  was  getting  a  bad  reputation  in  the  school  till  the  visit- 
ing teacher  was  asked  to  find  out  her  home  conditions.  Her 
record  shows  how  neighbors,  parents  of  other  school  children, 
often  give  most  valuable  co5peration. 

Sadie  was  a  bright  blue-eyed  girl  of  nine  years.  She  had  an 
abundance  of  yellow  hair  and  a  captivating  smile.  She  was 
naturally  polite  and  full  of  energy.  She  was  reported  to  the 
visiting  teacher  from  the  second  grade  because  she  came  to  school 
in  a  very  dishevelled  condition,  with  her  hair  partly  fastened 
up  in  a  knot,  her  face  often  dirty,  and  her  clothes  tied  on  with 
strings  or  bits  of  ribbon.  She  was  also  found  asleep  at  her  desk 
many  times  during  school  hours. 

No  one  was  at  home  at  the  first  visit,  and  the  report  came  to 
the  visiting  teacher  that  the  mother  was  working  at  a  distance 
from  home.  At  promotion  time  Sadie  went  to  a  teacher  who 
took  little  interest  in  the  home  conditions  of  her  pupils,  but  the 
child  was  sent  to  the  visitor  in  the  hope  of  "bringing  up  her 
work." 

In  the  meantime  the  neighbors  began  reporting  to  the  visiting 
teacher  that  she  was  being  cruelly  neglected  and  was  on  the  street 
until  late  at  night  and  that  the  father  was  drinking  very  hard  and 
sending  the  child  to  the  saloon  for  beer.  The  father  had  neg- 
lected to  leave  money  for  the  child  to  use  for  her  luncheon  at 
school,  as  he  was  expected  to  do,  so  she  sometimes  went  without 
food  at  noon  and  told  the  visitor  that  frequently  there  was 
nothing  at  home  for  supper  and  that  all  she  had  was  a  piece  of 
pie  given  her  by  a  baker  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  visiting  teacher  finally  found  the  mother,  who  was  em- 
ployed as  a  cook  in  a  boarding  house  several  miles  from  home, 
with  such  long  hours  of  work  that  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  go 
home.  She  was  often  away  for  two  weeks  at  a  time  and  supposed 
that  the  father  was  giving  Sadie  good  care.  The  visiting  teacher 
found  him  lying  on  the  floor  intoxicated  one  morning,  and  she 
never  called  that  she  did  not  find  on  the  table  a  large  pail  of  fresh 
beer,  which  he  generally  drained  during  her  visit.  The  house  was 
in  fairly  good  condition,  but  there  was  only  one  bed  in  the  rear 
room  where  Sadie  must  have  slept  with  her  father. 

Finally,  the  mother  made  arrangements  so  that  she  could  return 
home  every  other  night  and  in  the  meantime  hunt  for  other  work. 
The  father  was  cautioned  to  see  that  Sadie  was  in  the  house  by 
nine  o'clock  and  also  that  she  had  better  food.     He  seemed  very 


13 

fond  of  the  child  and,  when  he  was  sober,  tried  to  do  his  duty  by 
her.  Arrangements  were  made  for  her  to  have  money  for  her 
lunches.  The  visiting  teacher  taught  her  how  to  arrange  her 
hair  and  gave  her  hair  ribbons  and  a  suitable  dress  or  two,  and 
inspected  her  often.  A  tutor  was  provided  for  her  in  arithmetic 
through  a  nearby  settlement,  and  other  afternoons  of  the  week 
were  arranged  for  in  various  ways  so  that  the  child  could  have 
wholesome  occupation  and  activity.  The  librarian  around  the 
corner  was  interested  in  her  and  helped  her  in  the  selection  of 
books.  She  joined  a  club  at  the  settlement  for  games  and  story- 
telling and  she  was  finally  admitted  to  the  gymnasium,  when  the 
visiting  teacher  provided  shoes  and  proper  clothing.  She  was 
radiant  with  delight  over  the  work  in  the  gymnasium  and  pleased 
the  teacher  exceedingly.  A  kindly  neighbor  also  cooperated  in 
the  child's  behalf  and  made  her  welcome  whenever  her  parents 
were  away. 

Sadie  is  a  changed  girl,  both  in  the  classroom  and  outside. 
She  brings  her  "perfect"  papers  to  the  visiting  teacher  and  is  so 
happy  that  she  cannot  contain  herself.  The  dark  circles  have 
disappeared  from  under  her  eyes,  she  is  happy  and  alert  and  has 
made  her  grade.  The  teacher  is  surprised  at  the  change  in  the 
child,  for  she  was  prejudiced  against  her  at  first  on  account  of  her 
indifference  and  her  slovenly  appearance. 

She  has  had  thorough  attention  given  her  teeth,  which  were  in 
bad  condition,  and  her  general  health  seems  very  good,  as  her 
exuberant  spirits  indicate.  The  father  is  now  at  work  regularly 
and  the  mother  is  at  home. 


A  visiting  teacher  needs  to  understand  different  peoples,  the 
traditions  they  bring  with  them  from  their  own  countries,  and 
the  avenues  of  common  interest  by  which  they  can  be  approached. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  case  of  Angelina,  cited  in  the  introduc- 
tion, and  also  by  that  of  Anna.  Her  story  indicates,  too,  the 
need  of  forming  the  acquaintance  of  the  child  in  the  early  years 
of  school  and  of  giving  her  freedom  enough  so  that  her  natural 
interests  and  aptitudes  may  be  understood. 

Anna's  chief  failures  were  in  arithmetic  and  grammar.  The 
grammar  was  perhaps  especially  difficult  for  one  who  also  studied 
her  parents'  Bohemian,  and  grammar,  too,  is  the  chief  stumbling 
block  in  the  eighth  grade.  Anna  herself  was  quite  sure  that  it 
was  the  barrier  to  all  further  education. 

"  Oh !  I  knew  in  8A  by  my  grammar  that  I  was  not  smart  enough 
for  high  school,"  she  said,  and  in  her  last  year  decided  to  go  to 
trade  school,  where  she  chose  the  course  that  would  keep  her 
longest.  Moreover  she  planned  to  follow  it  by  another  in  book- 
keeping, "because  it  is  useful,"  though  in  her  double  period  of 
arithmetic  she  betrayed  to  the  watchful  visiting  teacher,  in  spite 
of  her  Bohemian  reserve,  a  decided  contempt  for  the  public  school 


14 

drill  in  percentage  and  interest  and  a  constant  questioning  as  to 
the  end  of  it  all. 

The  teachers  had  little  patience  with  Anna's  inarticulateness 
and  unresponsiveness.  "She  surely  could  overcome  her  shyness 
and  recite  if  she  knew  her  lessons,"  they  said,  and  no  one  in  the 
school  became  acquainted  with  the  real  Anna  and  her  thoughts. 

At  last  the  opportunity  to  give  help  came  to  the  visiting  teacher 
and  Anna  with  three  other  Bohemian  girls  was  placed  in  a  group 
for  after-school  tutoring  in  English  work.  They  had  an  enthu- 
siastic and  charming  tutor  who  read  or  told  them  stories  which 
they  reproduced.  She  was  gradually  able  to  break  down  the 
crust  of  reserve  and  her  reports  on  the  child  were  illuminating. 
"She  is  quick  to  get  the  idea  in  a  story  and  gives  it  back  well. 
She  is  very  intelligent  and  thoughtful,  quite  remarkably  so,  and 
she  surely  ought  to  go  on  to  high  school." 

This  capable,  highly  imaginative  girl  has  had  little  to  stimulate 
her  to  expression  during  her  school  years,  because  the  formal 
character  of  the  school  work  was  not  calculated  to  overcome  her 
natural  reserve  or  to  encourage  the  independence  of  thought 
which  is  a  racial  characteristic.  As  a  consequence  no  one  re- 
membered to  look  back  of  her  silence  and  unresponsiveness,  and 
no  one  understood  her  till  she  was  placed  in  a  freer  atmosphere. 

THE  RECORD  FORMS 

A  facsimile  of  the  record  form  used  by  the  visiting  teachers  is 
given  on  pages  15  to  18,  with  an  actual  case  record  filled  out, 
which  tells  its  own  story. 

This  sheet  has  been  evolved  as  a  result  of  the  many  years  of 
experience  of  the  visiting  teacher  staff.  It  affords  space  for  enter- 
ing the  data  which  have  proved  to  be  necessary  in  all  ordinary 
cases  with  as  little  labor  as  is  consistent  with  thoroughness. 

Its  form  is  that  of  a  sheet  folded  to  a  5  x  8  fihng  size.  For  field 
work,  it  is  carried  in  a  loose  leaf  book,  so  arranged  that  entries 
can  be  readily  made  on  it,  not  only  when  the  case  is  taken  up 
but  also  while  it  is  in  progress,  as  new  information  is  gathered 
or  special  action  is  taken.  At  the  termination  of  work  on  a  case 
it  is  filed  in  a  5  x  8  cabinet  and  serves  as  a  folder,  holding  sup- 
plementary history  sheets  or  correspondence  relevant  to  the  case. 
For  this  reason  the  items  for  identification — the  name,  address, 
etc. — are  so  entered  at  the  side  of  page  3  as  to  head  the  sheet 
when  filed. 

The  data  are  arranged  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  usually 
obtained.  The  first  page  provides  for  facts  that  the  visitor  can 
find  out  by  conferences  with  the  teachers  and  by  consulting  the 


15 


X  . 

SOURCE  OF  AND  REASON  FOR  INQUIRY 

IP 

ij 

1.     REPORTED  BV  :  (wrMo  d«t«  In  ippropriate  column.) 

Rlpr.d  E    '''"'^"^ 

Teecher 

Parent 

Neighbor 

Attendsnce 
Officer 

Nurse 

r 

o 

i 

• 
•7- 

1 

(»)Flrrt 

3-\a-\il 

(b)  Second 

^.. 

(e)  Third 

CD 

-O 

2.     REASON  GIVEN  ;  (ch«ck  In  appropriate  column." 

re 

Times 
Reported 

Scholarship 

Conduct 

Attendance 

Lateness 

(»)  FIrrt 

•^ 

•X- 

(b)  SecoiRc: 

i 

» 

H 

1 

-5 

(c)  Third 

St«t«fl«rt  muJ* :  ft)  »>Va'i    %^  cR  IJtwVaaV  »W\  «SLaM  ,  V4.VMX4  \o  »*>0r«^ 

i 

E 

W  OwiL'^YttuM    W<A<S     «»v%  >JV\Ju    5;,9,ot»y-. 

c 

• 

(«) 

SCHOOL  RECORD,  MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 

• 

3.    BIRTH:  Date  b-'3-0O    pi.c,    Vj.^.^.                                 RACE:      W, /b.       Y. 

3 
(9 

4.    SUMMARY  OF  PREVIOUS  SCHOOL  RECORD :  (Entar  «IgnHIe»ntf»ct» only) 

a. 

(OSchooUttterwled:  N.Y.  —  /V\.     —  M                          EUcwher*: 

GndM          J  A      jj  »    i,  Q       Gr»de»                                    Termi  In           c      •» 
(MRepMted:   *  A  -  *+ A-M- O  (e)  SklppwJ :                     (d)  SpeeUil  el«M«  t  O  -  3v»%©«  , 

s 

iO 

■E 

1                                                  T      1               ,^            ,  .   ..  :^ 

(f)  Conduct:     A-rt'^-*- 

(e)  AtUndtneo :  Av»«A^«.    O^0«evv<«.      <>  <^OA  •  V(A    ecutVv    \i;;;^w«  . 

1 

(h)  Uittnn* : 

a      c 

■  t 

I 
1 

i 

S 

5.    DETAILS  OF  CONTEMPORARY  SCHOOL  RECORD  WHERE  NEEDED  ^ 

c 

Gnde 

Dde 

Present 

Effort 

Profld- 
ency 

Abt 

Late 

Cond. 

D«l)el*nt  In 

E 

(.)  v^ 

a-K 

^ 

B 

o 

l(V 

B 

(b)  - 

3-i4 

lb 

•^ 

^% 

o 

c 

^e.ora^. 

>< 

(e)     •• 

fW 

TS 

13 

2 

o 

■b 

HCiSVu   -^«OQ. 

(d)    £ 

oi,-/- 

13 

■ft 

o 

lb 

A              ^ 

1 

• 

(.)E 

f.-* 

(^^5p 

f\^4 

\-& 

A 

V3 

o 

o 

ra 

f,i  yQ 

V\^»4 

13 

r^ 

B 

0 

o 

A 

(nU/1 

;i.\5 

IT 

r^ 

fi 

o 

o 

i3 

(1)  L\^ 

3»V 

JLo 

A 

R 

o 

o 

A 

-o 

(i)    •■ 

6.    MENTAL  CONDITION :f.)Br(sM       Slow       OuU       D.f«tl„ 

(b)  Sourorof  InfomMtten : 

7.    PHYSICAL  CONDITION :(.)  O»o«rtm«nt  of  HmW.  1    V'>8«CV»  -  '"  3-'l3     "Tc^iVrT 

<3\.  M-3o.i4         T««\Vr  yectiu^^vxa     oJClCCVitG^  - 

(b)  Other  Informetlon 

1 

FACSIMILE  OF  PAGE  I  OF  THE  RECORD  FORM,  SHOWING  AT  THE  RIGHT  THE  IDEN- 
TIFICATION  MATERIAL  ENTERED  ON   PAGE  3,   WHICH  COMES  AT  THE  TOP  WHEN 
THE  RECORD  IS  FILED  AS  A  FOLDER.      IN  FIELD  WORK  IT  IS  CARRIED  UPRIGHT, 
AS  ABOVE,  IN  A  LOOSE-LEAF  BOOK.      ACTUAL  SIZE  5x8  INCHES 

3       . 


i6 


ENVIRONMENTAL    INFLUENCES 


8.    PARENTS  :(»)  Place  o<  birth  :-F.  O^A*^- V).*t>/\  •      W  Y«»r»  I"  0- S.  s 


'0)  Sp««k»  Enjll»h-F. 


M. 


(rl)  Religion.  F.    'Y^, 


M.     'P. 


9.    ATTITUDE  OF  HOUSEHOLD  TOWARD  CHILD 


'      Kvv\^-      rVo-tiuA.   ct. 


J\-  JV\o^Vvt>^    -tytafrCe^    c.  fcov»^Vo/»^*"<n/>>  <:V«V%«>«'.  -f' *^*-t/,y»C\ 


10.    ATTITUDE  OF  HOUSEHOLD  TOWARD  SCHOOL  : 


V^OAreJ^A-*^  • 


.  (S<o.  a)Ve^{iiv^iP 


It.     HOME  CONDITIONS :    "jv»^rYV-oJU»-<JI> 


boA.-   Vi\'<AJir^  boxJt  •     T\KO>\\/lJ'Xvv\aft  -  0<>rM^   >poor- 


I?.    DETAILED  INFORMATION  CONCERNING  PARENTS  AND  OTHER  MEMBERS  OF  THE 


FAMILY  WHEN  NECESSARY  OR  DESIRABLE  : 


Namea  and 


OeBtf 


Not 
L'vint 


■AjF- 


0«tu 


OccupatJon  or  other  Irrformrtion— In^oat* 


nuikatliuiin  t}  II )  iKtKkuuUhit  IJw  ' 
^ofTM  by  O. 


Relationship  to  Child 


at 

Home 


iil 


THwvku  »  \-oj,V<  ^ 


^atArtT  -'tV  ^tM«^ 


iU 


ff^a.Tu-N\ovt^ 


.^~Jyir>»gS 


b. 


•' 


i^l^toL.  ^ 


'r 


W- 


t3 


•Ps 


7T 


iai- 


^ 


vXnrrXiuy 


4tt- 


'WoiSvM.J^^^ 


^ 


^c^  s 


(h) 


f^ 


13.     NEIGHBORHOOD  INFLUENCES  . 


Ur 


H.    SOCIAL  AGENCIES  CONNECTED  Wif  H  CASE  : 


Atprtsent:    CV>A*<rtV\  . 


FormeHv  =    H^UJ,-  ^'^^  -  '^JJ^^^S  -  C^Ur  ck  -      S-T.^.^ 


QENERAu  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  TENDENCIES 


15.    (Cofuldar  habltr.  awoclatea.  occup«tiof>8,  anu»»rn»r<tg  tod  reaction  to  Infliwfloaa. 


)  "fuAi 


TC^YJOrn 


AWVgAi    -^    ^&>M^'t\M.       ^OC^     U;04<Im     \o     Q^.    ^'<.    M»^«L* 


A\\Yo.ttCi;^*-  o»^  w»>^  ygitwtvwc.        JVlitiliCa^  e^feu4<^ 


O- 


*s: 


Vno<,V\«/<rt    ^iottV  Cdrvvx  t 


Vo^A  oV  cV\'A^<<-n 


<*3o4    Y\a.\,u,v*.  ■     -J^owxe.'aXvft.    \"v\  Xa^V"g<  •     Cc>jtoo.Va\< 


yvxVgJt.'g<^oi    >^   o\V^**-    ^  ^<V^o<^.    VvKo-A     W^ 


(l.<yo^vw<      <»vv<\.    Sg*^*v>^a      Qj-»V.ovv.t>  -     'V>ru^     AxO^acft       o^' 


hows  ft- 


£r^_ 


~Wa44x4       Cui/yvN^XM^    <lL/vs<^ 


-rtegJtvi  ■ 


n 


FACSIMILE   OF   PAGE   2    OF   VISITING  TEACHER   RECORD 


17 


-Zr 


xy 


UL 


Q 


.2_ 


TREAVMENT 


le.    ACTION  TAKEN  BY  VISITING  TEACHER  AND  RESULTS  SECURED: 


(V=Att«trp'^  action  ascured  ;  O^A**""?'**)  •'^'on  not  lecured.) 


(i)  IN  TKc  SCHOOL:  Modified  requhcmenf»        Chsnjs  !n  cl«s»   •    Chtnga  of  tchool 


CfULnc*  In  sttltude  tow«rd  oWld    Z'    Refsrrid  to  : 


(b)  IM  THE  HOME  !  Added  attention  to  :  Phytlcal  eondHion  ef  cMId   -^Mental  conditlog      ^'^ 


VI   [ 


8 


a 


-SL 


ofc)iIld 


Moral  condition  of  child  ''     Homo  turroundinga  •Z  Anltud»  toward  child      (' 


(c)  THROUGH  OUTSIDE  AGENCIES  :  (give  name  of  agency) 


Regjiated  play 


Club«indcl«««e«     }'\cnA4a--VC'e.g.^  VVt«\     CqLt>\s.r' ■ 


Eiourt'ona 


Country  outlnga 


y 


Financ 


,al  relief  ^^Xxt^   A<^C>%C»^  •  J1v%>^>\  feftrU  KuXi^  ~  OtUTti 


Care  of  heel'.h     QgAl.\t5  I"  ^       W!^e>\VaSv     C»->r<l.     "^ 


Oacor^.■n^t"  fo-  a*udv 


Corecfion 


fd^  WITH  THE  CHILD  ;  Added  attention  to  :  Home  ntudv 


ri.MWQffc 


CorKluct      t/         Atteodapce      t^  Uteneta 


Hwlth 


17.    OTHER  OUTCOME  OF  THE  CASE  :  (tf=Seeur6d  through  adJon  ofvUMng  taaehw  !      [j 


H 

a- 

•5 


0=H«j>pan«d  without  the  aid  of  viclting  teacher.) 


(a)  Pfwrtjted  a   (b)Utback         (e)  Graduated        (d1  Trade  aehoni        fa^  Left  city 
(f)  OtJief  P.  F.  Of  pgrochhil  Sch. (g;  employment  certificate  or  equnralent 


FJNAL  ESTIMATE 


I 


f3.    CASE  NOT  SUITABLE  :  (Give  r<ia»on) 


19.     FU N DA«EMTAL  OlFriCULTIES 


..    gx<m«rvwtfc.  ^\>fe44  -  'VHu<- 


-O 


Vt<fc£  A/iU  aJteCuiUr  -  (gx^c-^Vvccw  -  ■mcd.nu.VnU"ev>.) 


*^!c!kc«\  >ncXaAtvL^>Met\\ 

20.    MEASURES  FOUND  EFFECTIVE.     "Jw^tmAjL  ^fci^ftAr QtC^avy - 


^tJ(1< 


Vti 


vsv^ 


gf.  TO  WKAT  sxTEffT  AOJusTeo'^m\?vwc^«->vr-  iKV\tfK>vta4 


[.l^t^Sl.  -fa 


^ 


»i<\  m  Cgw\r^\ 


n 


A 


\ 


FACSIMILE   OF    PAGE   3    OF   VISITING   TEACHER   RECORD 


i8 


NUMBER 
OF  ITty 


lUd. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INFORMATION 


ScAx^rgA   W'^  \Y^\t/><^a^  *s  l1v*(^  gj  ^SiusUeur   vU  Kg<|3V»vq  q. 


3->4 


»<(!.  cgvvVy«\.  "  bo*^     vuWdft      1^.  V>-rpuAV\V-   U*    V-T  <aA{ A«at«k 


TWt.  \»>>trrVC<,^    »Te3\  ^«rr    jLtyya^-  .uAni^h    \V\eort.    \xj6A 


Qgyg*;*^ 


^»W\A. 


Jp-^ 


»>*>t      - 


t^. Vytvu^Yvu.^    Us    ^.cAqaa 


u>V\iwfV    sVvg^  V\a^  Quj-1^     'wo"Vro\»)cSg-  .3r»  unrff^wtAQ  <a><AV 


fl 


IV 


^^Xrvt.    \\vnM<t     V*\     SL  Ao»lA^     lrVUrTV\^V>ft^     V»gw\^.  1^0(\W 


boLr«T\V»"  \Ta«X\-v\aA.   \p    ».->i\]iwtofevtt.v\tg.  •     KcxL  V>e«->\    u,v\A<.r 


^\4 


coly<-  o\-  veVVe^    <>y<axY\  \'-za,\l  tfx  <Aujf\v\Q    S^OL0k'cv'< 


vu-nArw. 


I         ^txrM-  <ytA_.       Ng;<^WT-VoJL    tuJ^jjulA.'  -^tvU>A^  Xs^'SVCC- 


0V»    Q/e,ftOU,vi^      Ol.    .<^JA^YY>A\vv\<^ 


3|l1-i4 


AI.  S^wV*    W    O^^UmJ^  .     *VV\ov\C«<     -^ttV  C^OMjU    oJUkx^nC^kI.^ 


Wsli'i 


'/V.  -Se^h  IS-    «^«>^^v-*^  -<pf<'    gaA\vr  v^ttfXSVft     "tffa.<arxft>rc  YWvA 


\>^<p>f<4aaX    \>t^  Vtftr    ||\\«^9\cA  Qt>.i/v% .      ff.  >Y\tA<^   encuXfeA a>o»'u.V 


hir<^>  awA.   av\tYwo\&    ^W  ViOil  A>*^  ■ 


Ek 


U  Yt.\\a\6\\vVo>V\ov\ 


'la.vtN  .   V>Nm>e.V      vvAe ^-Ytrirw^    S^\a\    /?SY\\'-^  'T^<T*^\J 


iLiii 


|xi>;>L    \nt^  >re\.v^(^    oy<^<i.vi>-.-at;«^  .        ViT  \;rt\gv<.troX  9>.Sl?ftfV>«>> 


gxsJL  <\v 


-2- 


VtivVai.  v>o*>  £.\«J-.      Mw^ys  WW*v«-     Ca^^v^V**  g\\a^^g.^.    \/e.r>4 


>WcV>  A.C>co.v\.     U&oKt     ley,  ft.       Q-V-ov^g 


%Ai 


M^r&.M.    xAigv^\-  u>\\V-  VT.   \o  dt«y«<M&aYM .     Hn^t^S.    Seo^s    ^V< 


awAawfcblcAJw  CuXs    ujM^guxA    l^  \»yewrk    wuytV*  o^  <?C\ft. 'Ys?vvLg. 


Thv<  »^  tVfg.  Y^g^yvi.  Sov^  \\tx  taVa-vM^  ^T»v^  \A.\o>.vivV^.     ShaXbAkiA,  om 


V^tY  ^(ultv^^  >o<vVr  VT     H/iII  wAO-kg-  CaV^es  t-  ^^^>"  >o  eaK<^r"M^ 


Q.y^>;r<^  .         W.H  Qa  \o  <i\i»u«»<%a;ru    v«.<^u\av\M  <rwr  Iy<.qJ>»><vCV 


%* 


Mr^.M.VvM     ^^.1    vcwV    Y*<^uXarV.^        \^   sW-^i\t^ 


^ 


e^^oLc^    >,<<)^vrer.         t-Vtg-    \«K»\<»    fc\*<>/vt 


o 


//•Vyft-V^H  t**  ^cU.  "^gy^-Kx   coe^C 


CUuiflcation 
of  Cat* 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Ooc. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mch. 


Apr. 


May 


June 


ACTIVE, 


• 


• 


/ 


-/ 


INACTIVE 


SPECIAL 


VI9ITIN0  TCaCHCR**  nCCORO,  FUBLIC  COUCATIbN  ASSOCIATION  Or  NCW  YORK  CITY,   «ai«.tSia 


FACSIMILE  OF   PAGE   4   OF   VISITING   TEACHER   RECORD 


19 

school  record  card.  On  the  second  page  are  recorded  family  and 
neighborhood  statistics,  ending  with  details  about  the  child  him- 
self, which  are  to  be  entered  only  after  a  long  acquaintance  with 
him.  Then  follows,  on  the  third  page,  a  record  of  the  treatment 
given  in  school,  in  the  home  and  through  outside  agencies  and 
also  an  opportunity  to  indicate  special  effort  on  the  child's  part. 
The  last  topics  on  this  page,  "Fundamental  Difficulties," 
"Measures  Found  Effective"  and  "To  What  Extent  Adjusted," 
serve  two  purposes:  first,  to  summarize  the  work  on  each  case 
for  the  year's  record,  and  second,  to  enable  the  visitor  to  analyze 
frequently  her  method  and  procedure  and  secure  an  increasing 
consciousness  of  the  varying  phases  of  the  problem.  The  last 
page  provides  a  history  sheet  on  which,  by  a  cross  reference  sys- 
tem, items  on  the  preceding  pages  may  be  amplified  or  additional 
comment  or  information  recorded.  Besides  its  value  as  a  con- 
venient medium  for  working  on  a  case,  the  form  does,  in  a  measure, 
set  a  standard  of  efficiency  and  thoroughness,  since  its  topics  sug- 
gest information  to  be  gathered  and  possible  action  to  be  taken 
in  dealing  with  the  child.  The  work  of  the  visiting  teacher  in 
the  schools  has  of  necessity  a  spiritual  quality,  which  makes  it 
difficult  to  assess  its  value,  and  yet  the  need  of  standardization 
becomes  more  manifest  with  the  extension  of  the  service.  Such  a 
record  form  as  that  adopted  by  the  visiting  teacher  staff  of  the 
Public  Education  Association  must  be  regarded  as  a  useful  adap- 
table instrument,  not  as  a  measuring  rod  for  each  case ;  that  is 
there  can  be  no  arbitrary  rules  prescribed  regarding  the  topics 
to  be  filled  out  in  each  instance.  It  forms  a  very  suggestive 
guide  for  a  visitor  beginning  the  work,  and  in  the  hands  of  a 
director  who  understands  the  possibilities  and  the  limitations  of 
visiting  teacher  service,  it  is  a  most  valuable  means  of  estimating 
the  efficiency  and  the  resourcefulness  of  the  members  of  the  stafif. 


PART  II 
ANALYSIS  OF  CASES  REPORTED  IN  1913-14 

In  the  following  pages,  comprising  the  second  section  of  the 
report,  a  closer  analysis  is  made  of  the  926  regular  cases  under 
the  supervision  of  the  visiting  teachers  during  1913-1914. 

The  regular  cases  are  those  reported  for  the  reasons  given  in  the 
following  pages.  They  present  a  problem  which  must  be  studied 
by  extended  observation  of  the  child  and  by  careful  investigation 
of  home  and  environmental  conditions,  and  solved  with  the  co- 
operation of  the  parents,  the  teachers  and  representatives  of  out- 
side agencies.  Such  cases  are  held  for  an  indefinite  period,  usu- 
ally not  less  than  one  term  and  often  through  two. 

These  are  not  the  only  pupils  with  whom  the  visitors  worked 
during  the  year,  however.  In  addition  they  have  always  had 
brought  to  their  notice  for  advice  many  children  whom  they 
have  not  counted  as  cases  at  all,  or  whom  they  have  listed  as 
unsuitable  or  unnecessary.  As  their  acquaintance  in  the  schools 
increased  this  phase  of  the  service  was  recognized  as  a  legitimate 
feature  and  it  assumed  such  proportions  that  it  was  decided  to 
record  children  so  reported  and  group  them  under  the  head  of 
"special,"  or  what  the  hospital  social  service  terms  "short 
service"  cases,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  intensive  or  regular 
cases.  The  visiting  teacher  is  asked  for  some  very  specific  piece 
of  information  about  such  cases,  or  she  helps  bring  about  some 
slight  or  temporary  adjustment.  Little  investigation  is  required 
and  no  following  up,  since  the  question  involved  is  one  of  very 
immediate  procedure,  or  information  which  will  enlighten  the 
school  as  to  the  best  method  of  treatment.  Such  cases  include 
children  taken  up  to  place  in  clubs  and  classes,  or  homes  visited 
to  acquaint  the  parents  with  the  value  of  fresh  air,  industrial  or 
ungraded  classes  within  the  school,  or  to  advise  them  in  regard  to 
opportunities  for  further  education  or  trade  training.  They  are 
not  held  under  supervision  after  the  immediate  difficulty  is 
adjusted,  unless  they  are  found  to  need  longer  continued  treat- 
ment, when  they  are  entered  as  regular  cases.     The  visiting 

20 


21 

teachers  have  decided  to  keep  these  cases  separately  listed  be- 
cause they  represent  a  distinct  phase  of  the  work,  that  of  social 
adviser  to  the  school  and  the  children.  In  this  capacity  the 
visitor's  services  have  often  been  used  by  principals  and  teachers, 
and  will  become  increasingly  valuable  as  she  makes  herself  felt 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  school  and  neighborhood.  There  were 
896  of  these  special  cases  during  1913-14. 

The  school  year  is  taken  as  the  unit  of  work,  and  all  cases  are 
closed  at  the  end  of  June.  A  large  proportion  of  the  children, 
however,  are  kept  under  informal  supervision,  though  not  re- 
corded, during  the  following  year,  the  number  increasing  as  the 
visiting  teacher's  acquaintance  in  the  school  grows.  Some  of 
these  cases  show  the  need  of  more  intensive  work  as  the  year 
progresses,  and  they  are  then  put  on  the  regular  list,  when  they 
become  known  as  reopened  cases  as  distinct  from  new  cases, 
which  are  those  never  before  treated  by  the  visitor.* 

In  the  following  analysis  a  statement  is  first  given  of  the  reasons 
for  which  the  926  cases  were  reported  to  the  visiting  teachers. 
A  series  of  comparisons  follows,  based  on  the  676  cases  reported 
to  the  visitor  for  one  reason  only.  The  reasons  for  reporting  are 
studied  in  relation  to  the  conditions  found,  the  action  taken 
or  treatment  given,  the  circumstances  which  made  adjustment 
difficult  and  the  measures  which  seemed  to  have  been  the  most 
valuable  in  effecting  improvement. 

REASONS  FOR  REPORTING 

In  Table  I  the  entire  926  cases  are  enumerated  according  to 
sex  and  the  reasons  for  which  they  were  referred  to  the  visiting 
teacher.  The  gross  totals  of  this  table  are  summarized  in  Table 
II. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  676  cases  reported  for  one  reason  only 
constitute  by  far  the  largest  group,  73  per  cent  of  the  total. 
This  does  not  necessarily  mean,  however,  that  such  cases  were 
less  difficult  to  adjust  or  that  they  were  less  complex  than  those 
reported  for  more  than  one  reason.  The  number  of  reasons 
specified  in  reporting  a  case  to  the  visiting  teacher  depends 
largely  upon  the  teacher  or  the  principal  and  the  emphasis  which 
is  given  to  the  problem  of  the  class  room  as  compared  with  other 
possible  causes  of  maladjustment.  Sometimes  the  reaction  of 
the  school  to  the  child  is  all  that  is  reported  to  the  visiting 

*  See  Part  III,  page  69. 


22 

TABLE  I,— SEX  AND  REASON  FOR  INVESTIGATION  IN   THE   926 
CASES  REPORTED  FOR  ALL  REASONS 


Sex 

Reason  for  Investigation 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Reported  for  One  Reason  Only: 
Conduct  below  standard 
Scholarship  below  standard 
Irregular  attendance 
Ill-health 

Adverse  home  conditions 
Lateness 
Other  reasons 

57 
36 

21 
21 

15 

2 

l8 

127 

131 
89 
73 
47 
12 
27 

184 

167 
no 

94 
62 

14 
45 

Total  Reported  for  One  Reason 

170 

506 

676 

Reported  for  Two  Reasons: 
Scholarship  and  conduct 
Scholarship  and  attendance 
Scholarship  and  ill-health 
Scholarship  and  home  conditions 
Scholarship  and  lateness 
Conduct  and  attendance 
Conduct  and  lateness 
Conduct  and  home  conditions 
Conduct  and  ill-health 
Attendance  and  home  conditions 
Attendance  and  lateness 
Attendance  and  ill-health 
Home  conditions  and  health 

29 

ID 

7 
4 
2 

3 
I 

I 
I 
3 
4 
3 
2 

40 
23 
19 
9 
4 
12 

3 
3 
I 
12 
6 

9 

8 

69 

33 
26 

13 
6 

15 
4 
4 
2 

15 

ID 
12 
ID 

Total  Reported  for  Two  Reasons 

70 

149 

219 

Reported  for  Three  or  Four  Reasons: 
Scholarship,  conduct  and  attendance 
Scholarship,  conduct  and  home  conditions 
Scholarship,  attendance  and  lateness 
Scholarship,  conduct  and  health 
Scholarship,  attendance  and  home  conditions 
Scholarship,  conduct  and  lateness 
Scholarship,  attendance  and  health 
Scholarship,  home  conditions  and  health 
Conduct,  attendance  and  lateness 
Attendance,  home  conditions  and  health 
Scholarship,  conduct,  attendance  and  lateness 
Scholarship,  attendance,  lateness  and  home 
conditions 

6 
2 
I 

I 

I 
I 

2 

2 

4 
2 
2 

I 
I 

3 

I 

I 

8 

4 
5 
3 
2 
I 
I 
I 

3 

I 

I 
I 

Total  Reported  for  Three  and  Four 
Reasons 

12 

19 

31 

Grand  Total 

252 

674 

926 

23 

teacher.  For  instance,  "John  is  irregular,  or  tardy,  or  disor- 
derly, or  deficient  in  his  lessons"  will  be  the  message  given.  It 
may  be  that  John  was  also  suffering  from  spinal  trouble  or  con- 
sorting with  a  gang  or  taking  care  of  a  sick  baby  or  working  after 
school  in  a  sweat-shop,  but  the  teacher's  statement  attempted  no 
diagnosis  of  any  difficulty  other  than  that  shown  directly  in  the 
class  room.  On  the  other  hand,  the  report  may  be  more  detailed 
and  may  call  attention  to  more  than  mere  school  difficulties. 
For  example,  "Tony  comes  to  school  late  every  day  and  so  dirty 

TABLE   II.— SUMMARY   OF   TABLE   I.— NUMBER  OF    BOYS  AND 
GIRLS  REPORTED  FOR  ONE  OR  MORE  REASONS 


Sex 

Reported  for 
I  Reason 

Reported  for 
2  Reasons 

Reported  for  3 
or  4  Reasons 

Total  Number 
of  Children 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

Boys 
Girls 

170 
506 

67-5 
75-1 

70 
149 

27.8 
22.1 

12 
19 

4-7 
2.8 

252 
674 

100 
100 

Total 

676 

73-0 

219 

23-7 

31 

3-3 

926 

100 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  11,  SHOWING  NUMBER 
OF  BOYS  AND  GIRLS  REPORTED  FOR  ONE  OR  MORE  REASONS 


Boys 
Girls 


mzi 


TOTAL 
One  Beason 


Two  Reasons 


Three  or  Four  Beasons     □ 


that  I  am  sure  he  helps  his  father  in  the  coal  cellar.  He  does  not 
prepare  his  home  work  and  says  that  he  has  no  time  to  study. 
Will  you  find  out  the  conditions  at  home  and  try  to  get  some  help 
for  him?"  Some  of  the  suppositions  in  this  case  may  be  substan- 
tiated by  facts  and  some  may  prove  to  have  no  foundation,  and 
the  case  may  be  no  more  difficult  than  the  first  cited. 

While  the  table  also  shows  that  the  girls  largely  outnumber  the 
boys,  674  as  against  252,  this  is  not  significant,  because  the 
schools  in  which  the  visiting  teachers  were  working  were  all  girls' 


24 


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25 

schools  having  boys  in  the  primary  grades  only,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  in  which  there  were  girls  in  the  primary  department 
only  and  one  which  was  mixed  through  the  sixth  grade. 

The  45  cases  listed  in  Table  I  under  "Other  Reasons"  were  re- 
ported for  difficulties  so  varied  that  they  do  not  readily  admit  of 
classification.  They  may,  however,  be  grouped  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads: 

Needing  supplementary  activity  or  recreation  9 

Request  from  school  for  family  history,  for  mental  examination 
or  for  report  on  previous  school  history  of  newly  admitted 
pupil  8 

Desirous  of  further  education  or  trade  training  6 

Needing  encouragement  and  sympathy  5 

Unable  to  secure  employment  after  graduation  or  with  em- 
ployment certificate  3 
Unable  to  secure  employment  3 
Child  working  illegally  2 
Desirous  of  transfer  to  cripple  class  in  other  public  school  2 
Request  from  child  for  help  2 
Old  case  reopened  by  visiting  teacher  for  supervision,  no  com- 
plaint I 
To  admit  to  school  I 
Parents  dissatisfied  with  school  I 
Case  transferred  from  other  visiting  teacher  i 
Wishing  help  to  get  newsboys'  license                                               i 

Total  45 

In  Table  III  a  further  analysis  is  made  of  the  reasons  for  in- 
vestigation. It  is  shown  how  many  times  each  of  the  five  princi- 
pal reasons  for  which  children  are  reported  to  the  visiting  teacher 
appears  in  the  926  cases.  Because  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
children  were  reported  for  more  than  one  reason,  the  total  num- 
ber of  reasons  cited  in  the  table  is  naturally  greater  than  the 
total  number  of  children,  that  is,  1164  as  against  926.  The  per- 
centages are  reckoned  on  the  number  of  reasons. 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  III,  SHOWING  NUMBER 
OF  TIMES  THE  VARIOUS  REASONS  FOR  INVESTIGATION  OCCURRED  BY  SEX  IN  THE 

CASES  REFERRED 


Boys 
Girls 

TOTAL 


"^^^ssznmum 


wtm'//////m'JM 


WM///m 


Scholarship 

Conduct 


Attendance 
111  Health 


Home  Conditions 
Lateness 


HD 


Scholarship  appears  most  frequently,  341  times,  or  29.3  per 
cent  of  the  total;   conduct  follows,  298  times,  or  25.6  per  cent; 


26 

attendance,  217  times,  or  18.6  per  cent;  ill-health,  151  times,  or 
13  per  cent;  adverse  home  conditions,  112  times,  or  9.6  per  cent; 
and  lateness,  45  times,  or  3.9  per  cent. 

The  proportion  of  boys  and  girls  reported  for  scholarship  is 
nearly  equal,  30.4  per  cent  boys  to  28.9  per  cent  girls.  On  the 
other  hand,  31.3  per  cent  of  the  reasons  for  which  boys  were  re- 
ferred was  for  conduct,  while  the  percentage  of  girls  under  this 
heading  is  23.3  per  cent.  Irregular  attendance,  ill-health  and 
adverse  home  conditions  put  more  girls  than  boys  under  visiting 
teacher  care.  The  percentages  are:  irregular  attendance,  19.8 
as  against  15.8;  ill-health,  13.9,  as  against  10.6;  home  conditions, 
10.2,  as  against  8.2.  The  higher  percentage  of  irregular  atten- 
dance among  girls  may  seem  surprising  at  first  because  of  the  fact 
that  truancy  is  more  prevalent  among  boys  than  among  girls- 
The  visiting  teacher,  however,  is  not  dealing  primarily  with  prob- 
lems of  technical  non-attendance  or  truancy,  and  consequently 
the  irregularity  indicated  in  these  figures  has  in  many  cases  a 
social  cause.  The  little  girl  of  eight  who  stayed  at  home  fre- 
quently to  wait  on  her  sick  mother  and  to  help  a  blind  aunt  with 
the  washing  is  a  case  in  point.  Mothers  carrying  on  some  tene- 
ment industry  to  supplement  their  meager  income,  or  at  work 
outside,  leaving  little  children  to  be  cared  for  by  older  sisters,  the 
restlessness  of  the  retarded  girl  for  whom  school  holds  no  at- 
traction and  the  ills  of  adolescence  explain  some  of  these  cases. 
The  slightly  higher  percentage  shown  by  the  girls  for  ill-health 
and  adverse  home  conditions  is  probably  to  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  girls  share  the  household  burden  earlier  than  boys  and 
their  school  progress  suffers  from  it  more  severely. 

COMPARATIVE  TABLES 
In  comparing  the  reasons  for  investigation  given  when  report- 
ing the  cases  with  the  conditions  found  upon  investigation,  the 
action  taken  or  treatment  given,  the  circumstances  which  made 
adjustment  difficult,  and  the  measures  which  seemed  to  have  been 
the  most  valuable  in  effecting  improvement,  it  was  thought  best 
to  use  only  the  676  cases  reported  for  one  reason,  not  merely  be- 
cause the  task  of  comparison  would  be  too  complex  if  the  cases 
reported  for  more  than  one  reason  were  included,  but  because 
when  more  than  one  reason  is  given  it  is  usually  found  that  one 
of  the  reasons  holds  the  key  to  the  situation,  the  others  being  only 
secondary  in  importance  or  dependent  upon  that  one.  Scholarship, 


27 

conduct  and  attendance,  for  example,  are  generally  affected  by 
health  and  by  the  conditions  under  which  the  child  is  living. 
For  these  reasons  the  676  cases  reported  for  one  reason  only  were 
regarded  as  constituting  a  group  with  characteristics  typical  of 
the  entire  926. 

Before  presenting  these  comparative  tables  it  has  been  thought 
advisable  to  set  forth  with  percentages  in  Table  IV  that  portion 
of  Table  I  which  deals  with  these  cases.  It  will  be  noted  that,  in 
the  order  of  frequency,  scholarship  and  conduct  exchange  the 
places  they  held  in  Table  III.  Conduct  instead  of  scholarship 
leads,  with  184  cases;  scholarship  follows  with  167  cases;  ir- 
regular attendance,  with  no;  ill-health,  with  94;  adverse  home 
conditions,  with  62;  lateness,  with  14;  and  other  reasons,  with 
45-* 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF   PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE   IV,   SHOWING  SEX  AND 

REASON   FOR   INVESTIGATION 

Boya 
Girls 

TOT.&I   — ■— m^y/y^//yyim. 

Conduct  Wk.  Attendance        ^Horae  Conditions  flUD 

Scholarship   ^  111  Health        S  Lateness  1^ 

Other  Reasons     □ 

In  the  first  four  comparative  tables,  Nos.  V,  VI,  VII  and  VIII, 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  find  out  whether  the  visiting 
teachers  were  dealing  with  a  cross-section  of  their  schools,  com- 
prising all  types  of  children,  or  whether  the  group  that  came  under 
their  supervision  was  a  limited  one,  consisting  of  certain  peculiar 
types  only.  While  it  is  obvious  that  the  group  was  selected  to 
some  extent,  because  children  are  not  reported  to  the  visiting 
teacher  unless  they  present  some  special  problem,  the  aim  of  the 
tables  is  to  discover  whether  there  was  a  marked  tendency  to 
draw  these  children  continuously  from  certain  particular  groups 
only,  such  as  the  over-age,  at-age  or  under-age  groups,  whether 
the  children  tended  to  drift  into  the  visiting  teachers'  hands  at 
one  age  more  than  another,  or  from  certain  grades  more  than 
others,  or  whether  the  difficulties  were  more  numerous  and  more 
acute  among  the  foreign  children  than  among  those  of  American 
parentage. 

*  A  detailed  enumeration  of  cases  under  this  head  is  given  on  page  25. 


28 


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3 

Regular  (  Visiting  Teacher  cases 
Classes    \  School  cases 
Special    J  Visiting  Teacher  cases 
Classes    \  School  cases 

ToTAL  /  Visiting  Teacher  cases 
\  School  cases 

29 

Age-Grade  Distribution 

Table  V  gives  a  comparison  of  the  general  age-grade  distribu- 
tion in  the  eight  schools  as  a  whole  where  the  visiting  teachers 
were  working,  with  the  children  who  came  under  the  visiting 
teachers'  supervision.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the  City  Super- 
intendent, the  Public  Education  Association  was  able  to  use  the 
original  figures  for  each  of  these  schools,  but  in  order  to  secure 
comparable  data  it  was  necessary  to  eliminate  a  number  of  the 
visiting  teachers'  cases,  including  children  whose  grades  at  the 
end  of  the  school  year,  June,  1914,  after  promotion,  were  not 
known,  children  who  had  been  transferred,  cases  closed  before  the 
end  of  the  year — either  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  term  when  the 
adjustment  seemed  permanent,  or  before  promotion  in  June — 
and  finally,  children  who  had  been  graduated.  These  factors 
reduced  the  total  for  this  table  from  676  to  538. 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  V,  SHOWING  AGE-GRADE 

DISTRIBUTION 

Regular  Classes 

7.T.  Cases 

School 
S-oeclal  Classes 

7.T.  Cases 

School 


TOTAL  

School  Wtt^^mamm^^^:^»y./:^>:-:^..,y,.,:,      ,.,..\  i 

C/ver-ig©  Si    At-j^e  ^     Under-AGB  Cj 

It  will  be  noted  in  this  table  first  that  the  visiting  teacher 
group  of  under-age  children  is  much  smaller  in  proportion  than 
in  the  school  at  large,  8.2  per  cent  as  against  19.5  per  cent;  and, 
second,  that  the  over-age  figures  show  even  greater  differences 
in  the  opposite  direction,  58.2  per  cent  in  the  visiting  teacher 
group  as  against  31.8  per  cent  in  the  total  school.  It  is  signifi- 
cant that  in  the  percentage  of  under-age  and  over-age  children 
from  special  classes  there  is  little  difference  between  visiting 
teacher  cases  and  the  school  at  large,  while  from  the  regular 
grades  the  visiting  teachers  have  fewer  under-age  children,  7.9 
per  cent  as  against  19.7  per  cent,  and  many  more  over-age  chil- 
dren, 54.5  per  cent  as  against  29.5  per  cent.  This  indicates  that 
the  over-age  child  in  the  regular  grades  still  constitutes  an 
especially  difficult  problem. 


30 


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31 


Grade  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 

The  following  percentages,  estimated  on  the  basis  of  the  676 
cases  reported  to  the  visiting  teacher,  show  that  the  primary 
department  contributed  27.1  per  cent  and  the  grammar  grades 
49.8  per  cent;  that  the  special  classes,  made  up  largely  of  over- 
age children,  totaled  less  than  any  of  the  regular  grades,  15.7 
per  cent;  and  that  the  cases  from  ungraded  classes,  which  are 
not  properly  a  visiting  teacher  source  of  supply,  constituted  only 
4.6  per  cent.  Children  often  come  to  these  latter  classes  from  the 
visitor's  hands,  but  she  does  not  commonly  receive  cases  from 
them. 


Grammar  Grades 

Primary  Grades 

Special,  C,  D,  E  and  Anemic 

Ungraded 

Unknown 


'dumber 

Per  cent 

337 

49.8 

183 

27.1 

106 

15-7 

31 

4.6 

19 

2.8 

Total  676  loo.o 

wmmnmnm 


Grsamar  Or^es  Bl  Special  Class  as    ^ 

Priaary  ferades  ^  U23graa©d  GlfiSBea  GHO 

Table  VI  shows  the  relation  between  the  reasons  for  investiga- 
tion and  these  grade  groups.  Percentages  are  based  on  the  total 
number  in  each  grade  group  and,  therefore,  show  the  distribution 

GRAPHIC    REPRESENTATION    OF    PERCENTAGES    IN    TABLE    VI,    SHOWING    GRADE 
AND   REASONS   FOR   INVESTIGATION 

Primary    ^MBBM^^my^^^^^y^- ^"^i;!"!!^ 

Special    ^i^^ii^gi?iAs;i^i?^^i&«^J^^^ 

TOTAL    mami^t^i^Bm^mmsm(//////////m)^^^^\\m\\  m     \ 

Conduct  ■         Attendance     ^         Home  Conditions        IHJ 

Scholarship    ^         111  Health    ^         Lateness  ED 

Other  Reasons         □ 

of   difficulties   according   to   grade.     They   state,   for   instance, 
whether  attendance  cases  are  frequently  reported  from  special 
4 


32 

classes  or  whether  scholarship  difficulties  arise  most  commonly 
in  the  first  years  of  school. 

The  highest  percentage  of  difficulties  found  in  the  primary 
grades  is  in  scholarship,  which  includes  one-fourth  of  all  the 
children,  or  25.1  per  cent;  in  the  grammar  grades  it  is  conduct, 
which  includes  34.5  per  cent;  and  in  the  special  classes  it  is 
scholarship  again,  which  includes  35.9  per  cent.  The  figures  in 
the  ungraded  group  are  not  significant,  since  scholarship  naturally 
has  a  different  meaning  where  mentally  defective  children  are 
concerned.  In  such  cases  it  indicates  that  the  child's  mental 
capacity  for  school  subjects  and  the  question  of  special  training 
were  taken  into  special  consideration. 

The  fact  that  the  percentage  of  conduct  cases  drops  in  the 
special  classes  is  interesting  because  it  bears  out  the  opinion  of 
the  visitors  that,  in  well-conducted  C,  D  and  E  classes,  the  prob- 
lem of  discipline  becomes  nil,  due  to  the  individual  appeal  to  the 
children  and  the  initiative  and  freedom  allowed. 

If  the  grammar  grades  were  again  separated  in  order  to  find  out 
how  the  so-called  "departmental" — the  seventh  and  eighth- 
grades — differed  from  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades,  the  following 
results  would  be  found : 


5th  and  6th 

Number  Per  cent 

Conduct                  45  27.6 

Scholarship             38  23.3 

Attendance             29  17.8 

Ill-health                 21  12.9 

Home  Conditions  12  7.4 

Lateness                   4  2.5 

Other  Reasons        14  8.5 

Total                  163  loo.o 


7th  and  8th 
Number         Per  cent 


72 
36 
19 
14 
24 
I 
8 


174 


41.4 
20.6 
II. o 

8.0 

13.8 

0.6 

4-6 

1 00.0 


rifth  and  Sirth  Graaaa 


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Seventh  and  Slghth  Grades 


WK 


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Conduct  ■  Attendance  Wi  Home  Conditions   w 

ScholarsUp  ^111  Hsailth  B  Lateness 

Other  Bsssons  O 


33 

The  difference  in  attendance  between  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades 
and  those  having  the  departmental  plan  is  doubtless  due  largely 
to  the  fact  that  children  entering  the  seventh  grade,  at  which 
time  the  law  allows  them  to  leave  school,  are  for  the  most  part 
planning  to  continue  through  elementary  school  and  realize  that 
regular  attendance  is  necessary.  Adolescent  instability  and  the 
fact  that  so  many  children  feel  the  monotony  of  academic  work, 
which  varies  little  in  its  presentation  from  that  of  preceding 
years,  is  probably  responsible  for  the  41.4  per  cent  in  conduct 
found  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades. 

Age  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 
In  the  following  classification  by  age,  the  first  group  considered 
includes  children  of  normal  age  for  the  primary  grades,  from 
entrance  through  the  fourth  grade,  that  is,  from  6  or  under  to  11 
years.  The  second  group  holds  the  children  whose  ages  would 
place  them  normally  in  the  grammar  grades,  between  11  and  15 
years,  and  the  remainder  those  who  are  much  older  than  a  child 
should  be  at  graduation.  The  children  are  here  classified  by 
age  only  without  regard  to  the  grades  in  which  they  are  found. 
Comparing  this  table  with  the  preceding  one,  page  30,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  while  63  per  cent  of  the  children  reported 
to  the  visiting  teacher  w^ere  between  the  ages  of  11  and  15,  the 
normal  age  for  grammar  grades,  49.8  per  cent  only  were  actually 
in  those  grades.  The  distribution  of  children  according  to  age 
groups  is  as  follows: 


Number 

Per  cent 

Normal  Grammar  Age 

426 

63.0 

(11-15) 

Normal  Primary  Age 

166 

24.6 

(6-11) 

Over  Normal  Grammar  Age 

75 

II. I 

Unknown 

9 

1-3 

Total 

676 

1 00.0 

11  -  15  years 
6  w  11  ysars 


my/////////A 

Over  15  years ^ 

U2itaia??n  CH 


Table  VII  shows  the  relation  between  reasons  for  investigation 
and  age.     In  the  first  age-group,  scholarship  leads  as  a  reason  for 


i 


34 


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35 

investigation  with  a  percentage  of  28.9.  Among  the  children 
enumerated  in  the  second  group  the  largest  proportion  of  cases  are 
reported  for  conduct,  30.5  per  cent,  which  also  leads  among  the 
children  over  school  age  with  29.4  per  cent.  As  to  irregular 
attendance,  the  6  to  11  year  group  shows  19.3  per  cent;  the  11  to 
15  year  old  group,  15.3  per  cent;  and  the  over-age  group,  16  per 
cent.  A  slightly  larger  percentage  among  the  youngest  children 
would  naturally  be  expected  because  parents  allow  inclement 
weather,  slight  indisposition  on  the  part  of  the  child,  and  also 
their  own  convenience  to  interrupt  school  attendance  in  these 
early  years. 


GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  VII,  SHOWING  AGE  AND 

REASONS   FOR   INVESTIGATION 


6-11 
11  -  15 
15  and  over' 


*S:^gS5f?^^^g88Sg8^g85 


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mm    \ 


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TOTAL 

Conduct 
Scholarship 


:^;:^>?5^>J%<.^*%^;%a«ga^»g55= 


mmm    1 


Attendance 

111  Health 

Other  Heaaons 


Horae  Conditions 
Lateness 


□ 


In  the  two  older  age  groups  the  proportion  of  children  reported 
for  adverse  home  conditions  is  larger  than  in  the  younger  group, 
each  of  these  groups  approximating  10  per  cent  in  contrast  to  the 
4.8  per  cent  in  the  younger  group.  The  reason  for  this  is  prob- 
ably that  poverty  and  low  standards  of  living  do  not  make  their 
mark  so  obtrusively  on  little  children,  and  they  are  not  called 
upon  to  share  in  the  family  problems  to  the  extent  that  the  older 
ones  are.  It  is  not  difficult  to  dress  children  from  6  to  11  years 
in  a  presentable  fashion,  and  up  to  that  time  there  is  likely  to  be 
less  demand  for  their  help,  either  in  housework  or  in  productive 
activity  outside  the  home. 

The  younger  children,  too,  show  the  highest  percentage  re- 
ported for  ill-health,  2 1. 1  per  cent  as  against  12.2  per  cent  for  the 
II  to  15  year  group,  and  5.3  per  cent  for  the  over-age  group. 
Many  of  the  children  reported  for  ill-health  had  probably  been 
absent  from  school,  as  among  the  younger  ones  slight  illnesses 
are  likely  to  result  in  non-attendance,  which  would  call  the 
teacher's  attention  to  their  physical  condition  more  quickly  than 


36 

either  poor  scholarship  or  disorder  in  class.  Investigation  on  the 
two  latter  counts  sometimes  reveals  ill-health  as  a  contributing 
factor,  but  it  is  not  often  given  by  the  teacher  as  the  reason  for 
studying  a  child  who  is  misbehaving  in  class  or  has  fallen  behind 
in  scholarship.* 


Nativity  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 

Native  born  children  were  greatly  in  the  majority  in  1913-14 
and  are  becoming  more  so,  as  reference  to  the  Nativity  Table  in 
Part  Illf  will  show.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  visiting 
teachers  are  now  having  reported  to  them  the  younger  children 
from  families  whose  older  sons  and  daughters  were  born  on  the 
other  side.  The  general  distribution  of  the  children  according  to 
nativity  was  as  follows : 


Child  Native  Born: 

Both  Parents  Native  Born 
One  Parent  Native  Born 
Both  Parents  Foreign  Born 

Total  Native  Born 

Child  Foreign  Born 
Unknown 

Total 


Number 


Per  cent 


III 

16.4 

31 

4.6 

308 

45-6 

450 

66.6 

173 
53 

25.6 
7.8 

676 


1 00.0 


Native  Born 


V//////////////\ 


Foreign  Bom  0 


tWhTiown  iZH 


Two-thirds  of  the  children,  or  450,  were  themselves  born  in 
America.  By  referring  back  to  Part  I,  page  4,  it  will  be  seen 
that  five  of  the  visitors  were  working  in  distinctly  foreign  dis- 
tricts, so  that  though  general  statistics  as  to  the  nativity  of  the 
entire  population  were  not  available,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  cases  referred  to  each  visitor  were  fairly  representative  of  the 
schools  as  a  whole  as  far  as  nativity  is  concerned.  Nearly  half 
of  the  native  born  children,  45.6  per  cent,  it  will  be  seen,  were  of 
foreign  parentage,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  means 

*  In  "Medical  Inspection  of  Schools"  by  Luther  Halsey  Gulick  and 
Leonard  P.  Ayres,  page  156,  the  same  fact  is  noted:  that  the  percentage  of 
physically  defective  children  in  the  lower  grades  is  decidedly  greater  than  in 
the  upper  grades. 

t  See  page  72. 


?a?a«see*;iSK4d^ 


37 

not  only  immigrants  who  are  new  arrivals  in  the  United  States, 
but  also  the  old  Irish,  English  and  German  families  who  count 
their  residence  in  this  country  by  decades.  The  proportion  of 
native  born  children  with  American  parents  was  only  16.4  per 
cent  and  4.6  per  cent  were  of  mixed  parentage. 

Table  VIII  compares  the  reasons  for  investigation  with  nativ- 
ity. In  the  first  group,  both  parents  native  born,  the  numbers 
follow  the  same  order  as  the  totals  at  the  bottom  of  the  table, 
which  represent  the  entire  number  of  cases  reported  for  each 
reason  irrespective  of  nativity:  conduct  first,  26.1  per  cent;  then 
scholarship,  23.4  per  cent;  then  attendance,  22.5  per  cent;  then 
ill-health,  16.2  per  cent;  then  home  conditions,  8.1  per  cent; 
then  lateness,  i  per  cent. 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  VIII,  SHOWING  NATIVITY 
AND    REASONS   FOR   INVESTIGATION 

Batlve  Bom 
Foreign  Bora 

TOSAL 

Conduct  B  Attendance    ^  Home  ConditlonB     B 

Scholarship  j^  111  Health   ^  Lateness  1^ 

Other  Beaaona         O 

In  the  second  group,  one  parent  native  born,  scholarship  leads 
with  29  per  cent;  ill-health  next,  22.6  per  cent;  conduct  and 
attendance  next,  each  19.4  per  cent;  and  home  conditions  last, 
3.2  per  cent. 

Among  children  of  foreign  parentage,  the  order  in  the  totals 
is  again  followed:  conduct,  29.9  per  cent;  scholarship,  24.7  per 
cent;  attendance,  14.6  per  cent;  ill-health,  13.3  per  cent;  home 
conditions,  9.1  per  cent;  lateness,  2.6  per  cent. 

The  foreign  born  group  varies  again.  Scholarship  shows  the 
highest  percentage,  26  per  cent;  conduct  next,  23.1  per  cent;  ill- 
health,  13.9  per  cent;  attendance,  13.3  percent;  home  conditions, 
1 1.6  per  cent;  and  then  lateness,  2.3  per  cent.  It  will  be  noted 
that  lateness  comes  last  in  every  case. 

There  is  nothing  in  these  figures  to  indicate  that  the  foreign 
born  child  or  the  child  of  foreign  born  parents  offers  a  more  com- 
plex problem,  or  one  different  from  that  of  the  American  child 
born  of  American  parents.  The  proportions  for  the  several 
reasons  under  each   nativity  classification   are  practically   the 


38 


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39 

same,  and  the  difference  in  emphasis  is  so  slight  that  no  conclusion 
other  than  that  nativity  has  little  bearing  on  the  problem  can 
be  based  on  them.  Of  the  children  of  mixed  parentage,  a  smaller 
proportion  was  reported  for  adverse  home  conditions  and  a 
higher  percentage  for  ill-health  than  in  any  other  group,  but  this 
fact  seems  to  have  little  significance,  unless  the  eugenists  can 
throw  some  light  on  it. 

In  summarizing,  then,  the  facts  found  in  the  four  preceding 
comparative  tables,  the  problem  seems  to  be  one  of  over-age 
children  but  not  of  foreign  pupils  nor  of  any  special  section  in  the 
school,  as  the  figures  for  the  different  grade  groups  are  very 
similar. 

Physical  Condition  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 

The  visiting  teacher  consults  the  Department  of  Health  record 
of  each  child  reported  to  her,  and  also  notes  physical  ills  brought 
to  her  attention  by  parents  or  private  physicians.  The  results 
of  a  special  study  of  the  physical  needs  of  school  children  made  by 
one  of  the  visiting  teachers  are  given  in  the  appendix,  and  only 
the  Department  of  Health  records  of  the  cases  there  treated  are 
here  considered.  Defects  marked  corrected  or  being  treated  are 
not  included  in  this  enumeration. 

For  199,  or  29.4  per  cent  of  the  children,  there  was  no  record 
of  any  physical  defect,  and  477,  or  70.6  per  cent,  had  been  found 
defective  in  some  degree. 

The  comparative  data  on  this  subject  are  arranged  in  a  series 
of  tables,  each  setting  forth  in  detail  the  general  facts  given  in 
the  one  immediately  preceding. 

Table  IX  shows  that,  of  the  199  children  who  were  given  a 
clean  bill  of  health,  30.7  per  cent  were  referred  to  the  visiting 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  IX,  SHOWING  PHYSICAL 
CONDITION   AND   REASON   FOR   INVESTIGATION 


Ho  jrecord  of  defects 


?m:xv.f<Kis^..m/////yfmmm,^^kimmim 


Becord  of  defects  ^^^^^^^^^^^iifS«$i^iS^siiS^l^^/^//////A  'W^.Tp. 


Conduct  ■  Attendanca  ^  Hone  ConditionB    [Qg 

ScholArahlp  @  111  Health  S  Lateness  O 

Other  ?easozis        O 


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teacher  for  conduct  below  standard,  the  highest  percentage  in  the 
table,  although  25.8  per  cent  of  those  physically  defective  came 
to  her  for  the  same  reason. 

The  defective  children  show  a  percentage  of  27.5  per  cent  for 
poor  scholarship  as  against  18. i  per  cent  for  those  with  no  record 
of  illness,  and  ill-health  is  given  as  a  reason  in  16.8  per  cent  of  the 
former  cases  as  against  7  per  cent  of  the  latter,  as  would  be 
expected. 

In  Table  X,  the  analysis  is  carried  still  further  by  breaking  up 
the  first  group  of  199  cases,  those  in  which  no  defect  was  recorded, 
into  four  divisions:  cases  marked  normal  by  the  school  doctor, 
cases  never  examined  by  the  school  doctor,  cases  with  no  defects 
recorded  though  their  cards  bear  a  date  of  examination,  and 
cases  about  which  no  data  were  available.  Considering,  first, 
simply  the  totals  of  these  groups,  without  regard  to  their  relation 
to  reasons  for  investigation,  the  following  percentages  based  on 
the  entire  676  cases  were  obtained: 


Cases  having  Record  of  Defects 
Cases  having  no  Record  of  Defects: 
Marked  Normal  by  School  Doctor 
Never  Examined  by  School  Doctor 
Dated,  but  having  no  Record 
No  Data  Available 

Total  having  no  Record  of  Defects 

Total 


Number 

477 

43 
61 

42 

53 

199 
676 


Per  cent 
70.6 

6.4 
9.0 

6.2 
7.8 


29.4 


1 00.0 


Eeeord-  of  Defects 


Ko  Becord  of  Defects  d 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  children  marked  normal  by  the  De- 
partment of  Health  were  only  6.4  per  cent  of  the  entire  number, 
that  there  were  9  per  cent  who  had  not  been  examined  and  6.2 
per  cent  more  whose  cards  were  dated  but  who  had  no  other 
record  of  examination. 

The  children  represented  in  Table  X,  with  the  exception  of 
those  marked  normal,  in  the  first  group,  are  those  about  whose 
physical  condition  nothing  definite  is  known,  consequently  a 
comparison  of  percentages  will  reveal  little  that  is  significant  or 
about  which  conclusions  can  be  drawn.  Conduct  has  the  highest 
percentage  among  the  normal  children,  among  those  with  no 
record,  and  among  those  about  whom  nothing  was  known.     The 


42 


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children  whose  records  indicated  that  they  had  never  had  a 
physical  examination  in  school  were  reported  most  frequently 
for  irregular  attendance,  and  the  children  in  the  normal  group 
were  reported  more  often  than  any  others  for  ill-health,  though  the 
percentage,  9.3,  is  very  little  higher  than  that  of  the  other  groups. 


GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF   PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  X,   SHOWING  PHYSICAL 
CONDITION   AND   REASON   FOR   INVESTIGATION 


Ho  Defects  Becorded         ^i^^Mm^^B^mmmKm^bmim/yy^^i^yyyyAi^^mm \smM: 

HO  Becord  at  all  f^^^Bmm^mmsimmi^m:^^^m^^mM\\m\M 


Condtict  ■  Attendance         ^  Home  Conditions       ^ 

Scholarship    @  111  Health        ^  Lateness  "^ 

Other  Reasons    dJ 

In  Table  XI  are  listed  under  the  several  reasons  for  investiga- 
tion the  physical  defects  found  in  the  477  children  so  reported. 
It  will  be  noted  that  the  total  number  of  specific  defects  reported 
for  these  children  was  721. 

Percentages  were  not  reckoned  because  they  would  not  be  sig- 
nificant on  account  of  the  small  numbers.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  the  general  similarity  of  the  distribution  of  defects  among 
the  children  reported  for  conduct,  scholarship  and  attendance 
below  standard,  and  for  ill-health,  for  it  emphasizes  once  more  the 
need  of  regarding  the  child's  health  as  his  equipment  for  life,  and 
of  making  sure  that  he  has  that  equipment  as  far  as  it  is  possible 
before  he  is  sent  to  undertake  school  duties. 

Cases  are  not  reported  to  the  visiting  teachers  for  physical 
defects  which  come  within  the  province  of  the  nurse  and  the 
doctor  to  treat.  This  explains  why  the  children  with  defective 
vision,  nasal  breathing  or  enlarged  tonsils  were  not  grouped 
under  the  "ill-health"  heading. 

The  number  of  children  with  defective  teeth  for  which  dental 
care  had  not  been  given  is  also  significant.  Fully  half  of  each 
group  of  cases  is  checked  under  this  head,  and  when  the  digestive 
disturbances  that  dental  caries  brings  with  it  are  remembered, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  restlessness,  broken  sleep  and  nervous  irri- 
tability that  aching  teeth  cause,  one  can  readily  believe  that  it 
may  be  a  fundamental  reason  for  unsatisfactory  school  response 
on  the  part  of  the  350  children  affected.  The  number  of  cardiac 
cases,  17,  or  2.5  per  cent,  seems  rather  formidable  in  a  group  not 


44 


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45 

chosen  at  all  on  the  basis  of  health,  and  suggests  that  the  agitation 
for  special  classes  for  children  with  heart  trouble  is  justifiable. 

If  the  physically  defective  cases  found  in  this  table  under  each 
reason  for  investigation  are  compared  with  the  total  number  of 
children  reported  for  each  of  such  reasons,  as  giv'en  in  Table  IV, 
it  will  be  found,  as  in  the  following  enumeration,  that  more  than 
60  per  cent  in  each  instance  had  physical  defects  which  had  been 
distinctly  recognized  and  noted  but  for  which  there  was  no  indi- 
cation that  treatment  had  been  given. 

Of  the  184  cases  reported  for  conduct,  123,  or  66.8  per  cent,  had  some 

physical  defect. 
Of  the  167  cases  reported  for  scholarship,  131,  or  79  per  cent,  had  some 

physical  defect. 
Of  the  no  cases  reported  for  irregular  attendance,  69,  or  62.7  per  cent, 

had  some  physical  defect. 
Of  the  94  cases  reported  for  ill-health,  80,  or  85.1  per  cent,  had  some 

physical  defect. 
Of  the  62  cases  reported  for  adverse  home  conditions,  38,  or  61.3  per 

cent,  had  some  physical  defect. 
Of  the  14  cases  reported  for  lateness,  li,  or  78.6  per  cent,  had  some 

physical  defect. 
Of  the  45  cases  reported  for  reasons  other  than  the  above,  25,  or  55.5 

per  cent,  had  some  physical  defect. 

Taking  the  figures  altogether,  they  emphasize  the  extent  of 
the  problem  of  ill-health  among  school  children  and  the  fact  that 
medical  inspection  is  still  handling  the  situation  inadequately. 
Studies  have  already  been  made  showing  how  school  progress 
improves  with  the  correction  of  physical  defects.  These  totals 
suggest  the  necessity  of  recognizing  the  inter-relation  between 
health  and  scholarship  and  of  dealing  with  the  problem  of  child 
hygiene  from  this  angle.  Attempts  are  being  made  to  cultivate 
in  children  mental  and  physical  habits  which  will  first  enable 
them  to  acquire  in  school  the  tools  of  learning  and  will  later  equip 
them  for  the  larger  world  of  social  relationships.  Can  this  equip- 
ment be  assured  until  it  is  determined  how  far  each  child  is 
physically  fitted  for  the  formation  of  these  habits? 

Family  Status  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 

It  is  often  questioned  how  far  the  problems  of  retardation  and 
school  maladjustment  are  due  to  some  corresponding  social  or 
economic  difficulty.  The  data  regarding  the  676  cases  have  been 
analyzed  in  order  to  determine  as  far  as  possible  the  social  and 
economic  status  of  each  family.  It  is  impossible  positively  to 
state  in  which  instances  the  family  situation  has  reacted  favorably 
or  otherwise  on  the  school,  but,  in  general,  it  will  be  recognized 
that  teachers  may  expect  more  cooperation  from  a  normal  than 


46 


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47 


from  an  abnormal  home  and  that  the  school's  responsibilities 
increase  wherever  poverty  or  social  ills  are  most  prevalent. 

A  broad  classification  of  the  children  according  to  the  status  of 
their  homes  was  found  to  be  as  follows : 


Number 

Per  cen 

Socially  and  Economically  Incomplete 
Socially  and  Economically  Complete 
To  Some  Extent  Abnormal 
Unknown 

Total 

278 
261 
102 
35 
676 

41. 1 

38.6 

15-1 
5.2 

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Inconiplete     ]■ 
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Abnormal    ^ 
nntoiown      en 


A  family  is  regarded  as  socially  and  economically  complete 
when  the  father  is  employed  outside  the  home  and  the  mother 
is  at  home  keeping  house  and  looking  after  the  children.  A  fam- 
ily is  regarded  as  socially  and  economically  incomplete  when 
either  parent  is  dead  or  not  living  at  home,  when  the  father  is 
unemployed,  or  when  the  mother  is  employed  outside  the  home. 
The  middle  group  holds  those  families  in  which  there  is  either  an 
economic  or  social  condition  which  is  potentially,  at  least,  a  dis- 
advantage to  the  child,  such  as  the  employment  of  one  or  both 
parents  at  gainful  occupations  in  the  home  or  the  fact  that 
the  father  or  mother  is  a  step-parent.  In  these  cases,  the  ab- 
normal conditions  are  either  not  as  acute  or  not  actively  adverse. 
It  will  be  noted  that  the  two  extreme  groups  are  of  practically  the 
same  proportion.  Since  the  cases  in  the  middle  group  tend  to  drop 
into  the  lower  rather  than  the  upper  division,  however,  it  would  be 
safe  to  conclude  that  the  larger  proportion  of  the  children  referred 
to  the  visitors  come  from  poor  or  socially  abnormal  homes. 

Table  XII  shows  the  distribution  of  cases  reported  for  various 
reasons  under  each  of  these  broad  heads. 

GRAPHIC   REPRESENTATION   OF   PERCENTAGES   IN  TABLE   XII,   SHOWING  FAMILY 
STATUS   AND    REASON   FOR   INVESTIGATION 

Cootpleta 
Partly  ihnormal 
Incomplet* 

TOEAL 


%S%<*ss;»»>»S8ss:s;kc^:,' 


Conduct 
Scholarship 


Attendance 

lU  Health    ^ 

Other  Reaaona  O 


Hoae  Conditions   nnTTl 
Lateness 


48 

In  the  first  two  groups,  the  reasons  for  investigation  follow  the 
same  order  of  frequency — conduct,  scholarship,  ill-health,  atten- 
dance, adverse  home  conditions  and  lateness — and  vary  little  from 
the  order  of  frequency  of  the  cases  arranged  irrespective  of  such 
family  status,  as  shown  in  the  totals  at  the  bottom  of  the  table. 
Children  coming  from  incomplete  or  abnormal  homes  were 
reported  most  often  for  conduct,  next  for  scholarship,  and  then 
for  irregular  attendance,  instead  of  ill-health,  as  in  the  other  two 
groups.     "Adverse  Home  Conditions"  stands  fourth. 

Comparing  the  figures  from  another  angle,  25.3  per  cent  of  the 
children  from  normal  families,  23  per  cent  from  abnormal,  and 
24.5  per  cent  from  the  middle  group  were  reported  for  scholar- 
ship, and  28.7  per  cent  from  the  first  group,  29.4  per  cent  from  the 
middle  and  25.2  per  cent  from  the  last  were  reported  for  conduct. 
There  is  more  variation  in  the  three  groups,  however,  in  regard 
to  the  extent  of  adverse  home  conditions.  Of  children  from 
normal  homes,  6.1  per  cent  were  reported  for  this  reason;  from 
abnormal  homes,  14.4  per  cent;  and  from  those  in  families  where 
conditions  were  somewhat  adverse,  5.8  per  cent.  The  higher 
percentage  from  abnormal  homes  is  logical,  but  the  fact  that 
even  in  that  group  home  difficulties  were  not  more  often  cited  as 
the  reason  for  turning  the  case  over  to  the  visiting  teachers  shows 
that  in  his  school  relations  the  child  did  not  appear  strikingly 
different  in  this  respect  from  his  fellows. 

Of  the  first  group,  again,  17.2  per  cent  were  reported  for  ill- 
health;  of  the  middle  group,  18.6  per  cent;  and  of  the  third,  9.4 
per  cent.  If  there  had  been  noticeable  differences  in  the  stan- 
dards of  living  of  the  three  groups,  or  if  the  children  had  been 
reported  chiefly  for  relief,  correction  or  for  social  adjustments,  it 
seems  as  if  there  should  have  been  more  marked  difference  in 
these  figures.  It  m-ay  be,  however,  that  the  standards  of  living 
were  so  low  in  the  neighborhoods  where  the  visiting  teachers 
were  working  that  the  gap  between  the  families  just  above  and 
those  just  below  the  poverty  line  was  not  appreciable,  or  that  the 
difficulties  with  which  the  visitors  were  confronted  required 
treatment  from  the  educational  as  well  as  from  the  sociological 
standpoint. 

Treatment  of  Case  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 

Several  important  questions  arise  in  regard  to  the  treatment 
of  the  case:    When  the  child  is  reported  for  scholarship  is  the 


49 

school  the  agency  asked  to  cooperate?  If  John  is  giving  trouble  in 
conduct,  does  the  treatment  secured  by  the  visiting  teacher  con- 
sist of  some  action  at  home?  What  agencies  help  in  making 
Mary  regular  in  her  attendance?  In  short,  how  far  must  the 
whole  child  in  all  phases  of  his  activity  be  considered  if  his  diffi- 
culty is  to  be  met  by  the  school? 

There  were  in  all  1615  adjustments  for  the  676  children,  the 
general  distribution  of  which  was  as  follows: 

Number  Per  cent 
Modification  through  Outside  Agencies              633  39.2 

Modification  at  Home  531  32.9 

Modification  in  School  451  27.9 

Total  1615  loo.o 

V///////////////////A  I 


Outside  Agenoiea  0      Hcbb©     HB         School       O 

In  the  treatment  of  cases,  the  school,  home  and  agencies  for 
child  welfare  were  all  called  upon  in  many  instances.  Coopera- 
tion was  obtained  most  frequently  from  outside  agencies,  in  39.2 
per  cent  of  the  cases;  from  the  home  next  often,  in  32.9  per  cent 
of  the  cases;  and  finally  from  the  schools,  in  27.9  per  cent  of  the 
cases. 

Besides  these  children,  regarding  whom  definite  action  was 
taken  as  summarized  under  the  above  headings,  there  were 
children  whose  difficulties  were  adjusted  by  the  visiting  teacher 
alone.  These  cases  are  included  under  the  topic  "Visiting 
Teacher  Supervision"  in  Table  XV,  which  deals  with  measures 
found  elifective.  In  some  instances,  for  example,  the  needs  of 
the  children  were  met  when  their  environment  and  their  capacity 
and  interests  in  out-of-school  affairs  were  explained  to  the  teach- 
ers. Such  cases,  though  quite  as  essential  and  often  more  fruit- 
ful in  terms  of  school  progress,  do  not  appear  in  Table  XIII. 
There  was  also  another  group  of  cases  which  seemed  to  require 
little  actual  intervention  either  by  the  school,  home  or  outside 
agency — those  in  which  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  relation  between 
the  child  and  the  school.  The  child  may  have  been  unhappy  and 
repressed,  ambitionless  and  inert,  or  in  need  of  the  spur  of  friendly 
criticism  or  approval.  In  such  cases  the  cause  of  mutual  under- 
standing is  often  best  served  through  the  help  of  a  neutral  agency 
like  the  visiting  teacher  herself. 


50 

Where  modifications  in  the  school  are  designated,  it  may  mean 
a  change  in  class  or  school,  special  interest  shown  by  teachers,  or 
cooperation  from  other  school  officials.  The  latter  include  prin- 
cipals and  assistants,  district  superintendents,  attendance  officers 
and  school  nurses  or  doctors. 

The  modifications  within  the  home  mean  that  the  parents 
have  been  willing  to  cooperate  when  the  needs  of  the  child  were 
brought  to  their  attention.  They  may  have  consulted  physicians, 
sent  the  child  to  a  hospital,  allowed  him  to  be  placed  in  a  special 
class,  given  him  help  in  lessons  at  home  or  secured  coaching  for 
him.  They  may  have  given  more  supervision  to  him  outside  of 
school,  provided  a  suitable  place  for  him  to  study  or  to  play, 
moved  into  a  better  neighborhood  or  into  a  more  sanitary  dwell- 
ing, or  shown  by  their  attitude  toward  the  child  or  the  school  that 
they  were  studying  the  problem  more  closely  and  had  obtained 
a  more  helpful  and  sympathetic  point  of  view. 

The  group  designated  "outside  agencies"  includes  activities 
provided  or  treatment  secured  through  cooperating  social  agen- 
cies. There  follows  a  classified  list  of  the  groups  of  individuals 
and  types  of  agencies  which  cooperated  with  the  visiting  teachers 
during  the  year  1913-14  in  the  adjustment  of  the  problems  pre- 
sented to  them: 

1.  Public  Schools: 

School  Teachers  and  Principals 
Parents'  Associations 
Teachers'  Organizations 
Local  School  Boards 
District  Superintendents 

2.  Local  Neighborhood  and  Other  Agencies: 

Churches 

Settlements 

Neighborhood  Organizations 

Libraries 

Scholarship  Committees 

Individual  Social  Workers 

Employment  Agencies 

3.  City  Departments: 

Department  of  Education 
Department  of  Health 
Department  of  Labor 
Police  Department 
Tenement  House  Commission 

4.  Agencies  for  Relief  and  Correction: 

Relief  Agencies 

Convalescent  Homes 

Orphanages 

Reformatories 

Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children 

Juvenile  Court 

Probation  Association 


51 

Health  Agencies: 
Dispensaries 
Hospitals 
District  Nurses 
Psychological  Clinics 

Educational  Institutions  other  than  Public  Schools: 
Hunter  College 
City  College 
Teachers  College 
Pratt  Institute 
New  York  University 
Manhattan  Trade  School 
Clara  de  Hirsch  School 
Exiucational  Alliance 
Private  Schools 


In  some  cases  many  agencies  worked  together  to  secure  the  wel- 
fare and  school  progress  of  one  child.  In  such  instances  the  func- 
tion of  the  visiting  teacher  is  to  correlate  the  work  of  the  agencies 
in  order  that  waste  and  overlapping  may  not  delay  action  or  make 
the  effort  of  particular  organizations  futile.  Especially  is  the 
visiting  teacher  needed  as  a  social  representative  of  the  school, 
to  emphasize  the  educational  needs  of  the  child  and  the  school 
point  of  view,  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  help  interpret  to  the  school 
the  policy  and  function  of  the  child  welfare  agencies  on  the  other. 

Table  XIII  shows  the  relation  between  the  reasons  given  for 
investigation  and  the  action  taken  as  above  indicated.  It  will 
be  noted  that  modifications  at  school  seem  to  have  been  made 
most  frequently  in  instances  of  poor  conduct,  in  34  per  cent  of  the 
cases.  There  then  follow  in  order:  poor  scholarship,  in  27.7 
per  cent  of  the  cases;  irregular  attendance,  in  15.3  per  cent  of  the 
cases;  ill-health,  in  10.2  per  cent  of  the  cases;  home  conditions, 
in  8.2  per  cent  of  the  cases;  and  lateness,  in  1.3  per  cent  of  the 
cases,  thus  following  the  frequency  of  the  undistributed  totals  at 
the  bottom  of  the  table. 

In  the  home,  cooperation  was  also  given  most  frequently  for 
poor  conduct,  in  37.9  per  cent  of  the  cases.  Then  followed: 
scholarship,  in  22.2  per  cent  of  the  cases;  ill-health,  in  11.5  per 
cent  of  the  cases;  irregular  attendance,  in  11.4  per  cent  of  the 
cases;  adverse  home  conditions,  in  9  per  cent  of  the  cases;  and 
lateness,  in  6  per  cent  of  the  cases. 

The  group  referred  for  help  to  outside  agencies  shows  25.4  per 
cent  under  poor  scholarship,  24.8  per  cent  under  conduct  below 
standard,  17. i  per  cent  under  ill-health,  14.7  per  cent  under 
irregular  attendance  and  11.8  per  cent  under  adverse  home  con- 


52 


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53 

ditions.  The  percentages  under  ill-health  and  adverse  home  con- 
ditions are  larger  in  this  group  than  in  either  of  the  others,  but, 
as  a  whole,  the  figures  show  that  the  visiting  teachers  attempted 
to  get  co5peration  in  the  home  and  the  school  on  all  difficulties 
and  that  they  also  tried  to  make  possible  for  children  additional 
opportunities  through  outside  agencies. 


GRAPHIC   REPRESENTATION   OF   PERCENTAGES   IN   TABLE   XIII,    SHOWING  TREAT- 
MENT  OF   CASE   AND    REASONS   FOR   INVESTIGATION 


School 

Home 

O-atsido  Agsncisa 

TOTAL 


Conduct 
Scholarship 


>rt«!6%iKSS»«8«8gi888% 


%%%<<^i&>»«:'!g808»R« 


mmn 


Attendance        ^ 

111  Health        ^ 

Other  Reasons    □ 


Home  Conditions  OHID 

Lateness 


Reference  to  Table  XIV,  where  the  various  modifications  se- 
cured under  each  type  of  case  can  be  noted,  will  further  emphasize 
this  point.  In  this  table,  in  which  a  more  detailed  enumeration 
of  these  measures  is  given,  separate  percentages  have  not  been 
reckoned  because  of  the  small  numbers  involved.  The  distribu- 
tion is,  however,  rather  interesting  as  showing  the  means  tried  by 
the  visiting  teachers  in  the  attempted  adjustment,  the  coopera- 
tion given  by  the  school  and  the  home,  and  the  types  of  activity 
provided  through  outside  agencies.  The  number  under  "Care  of 
Health"  is  exceptionally  large  because  of  the  special  study  of 
health  already  referred  to,  which  is  treated  in  the  appendix. 


Fundamental  Difficulties  and  Reasons  for  Investigation 

In  her  effort  to  find  out  what  influences  are  shaping  the  lives 
of  the  children  under  her  care  and  to  take  back  to  the  teacher  a 
picture  that  will  help  in  the  treatment,  not  only  of  the  particular 
pupil  concerned  but  also  of  others  whose  environment  is  similar, 
the  visiting  teacher  studies  the  varying  factors  in  the  home  and 
neighborhood,  and  tries  to  understand  and  estimate  the  attitude 
and  the  point  of  view  of  the  parents  and  to  find  out  how  well- 
equipped  the  child  himself  is  for  the  battle  of  life.  In  summing  up 
her  work  on  each  case,  moreover,  the  visitor  asks  herself  which  of 
the  conditions  found  have  been  most  instrumental  in  causing  the 
difficulty,  or  in  hindering  the  necessary  adjustment. 


54 


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Physical  condition 
Mental  condition 
Moral  condition 
Home  surroundings 
Change  in  attitude 
EIGHBORHOOD 

Clubs,  classes  and  pi 
Excursions 
Country  outings 
Financial  relief 
Care  of  health 
Opportunity  for  stu 
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55 

The  distribution  of  such  fundamental  difficulties  for  the  676 
cases  in  1913-1914  was  as  follows: 

School  Maladjustment 

Lack  of  Family  Cooperation 

Economic  Stress 

Ill-health 

Immoral  Family  Conditions 

Individual  Peculiarity 

Adverse  Neighborhood  Conditions 

Total 


Number 

Per  cent 

215 

24.6 

209 

239 

172 

19.7 

171 

19.6 

43 

5-1 

38 

4.2 

25 

2.9 

873 

1 00.0 

■■■iPM«^Sg&?^?<^^^^^^^^ 


School  Haladjxiated         flilll  Health  ^ 

Lapk  of  Family  Coop.      ^Immoral  Paioily  Cond.lGn]] 

Economic  Streaa  EZSlIndlv*  Peouliarity    ^ 

Adverse  Neighborhood  Cozid*  O 

The  child  is  considered  "maladjusted"  when  school  conditions 
seem  to  be  definitely  responsible  for  his  failure  to  come  up  to 
standard  or  when  a  modification  of  requirements  adjusts  his  diffi- 
culty. Raymond  D.,  reported  for  inattention  and  bad  conduct, 
belonged  in  this  category.  He  was  found  markedly  deficient  in 
hemoglobin,  but  became  a  responsive,  busy  child  when  placed  in  a 
fresh-air  class.  So  also  did  Katherine  A.,  a  girl  whose  irregular 
attendance  and  poor  scholarship  were  her  only  distinguishing 
characteristics  in  the  regular  grade  but  who  ceased  to  be  a  prob- 
lem when  she  was  transferred  to  the  special  class  where  hand- 
work and  domestic  science  gave  her  her  first  opportunity  to 
excel. 

The  term  "economic  stress"  includes  actual  want  necessitat- 
ing public  relief  or  a  temporary  adverse  condition  beyond  the 
power  of  the  family  to  control,  like  illness  or  unemployment 
which  seems  to  be  responsible  entirely  or  in  part  for  the  child's 
difficulty. 

Under  the  heading  "lack  of  family  cooperation"  are  checked 
cases  of  neglect,  unjust  suspicion  toward  school  officials,  and  low 
educational  standards  on  the  part  of  parents. 

"Immoral  family  conditions"  are  those  due  to  drink,  physical 
violence  or  sexual  irregularities. 

Evil  influences,  such  as  gangs,  cheap  shows  and  disorderly 
houses  may  be  found  to  be  more  potent  in  the  life  of  a  child  than 


56 


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57 

the  family  or  the  school.  Such  cases  are  listed  under  the  heading 
"adverse  neighborhood  conditions." 

"Individual  peculiarity"  includes  those  children  who  are  for 
some  reason  socially  maladjusted,  such  as  those  who  are  mentally 
unfit  for  school  life,  or  the  few  who  are  exceptionally  erratic  and 
are  therefore  beyond  the  reach  of  home  or  school  influence. 

Mollie,  reported  for  irregular  attendance,  may  be  found  to  be 
so  malnourished  that  she  follows  the  line  of  least  resistance.  If 
she  is  late  for  school  she  stays  at  home  entirely ;  if  her  mother  sug- 
gests that  she  mind  the  baby  she  is  absent  another  day,  and  so 
she  loses  interest  and  ambition  as  far  as  school  duties  are  con- 
cerned. The  child  should  be  kept  in  the  open  air  as  much  as 
possible  and  should  have  extra  diet,  which  the  school  in  its  fresh- 
air  classes  can  make  possible  with  the  cooperation  of  the  mother, 
so  it  is  decided  that  the  difficulties  are  ill-health  and  maladjust- 
ment in  school  with,  possibly,  either  economic  stress  or  lack  of 
cooperation  in  the  family,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Lack  of  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  family  and  school  mal- 
adjustment contributed  24.6  per  cent  and  23.9  per  cent  of  the 
difficulties,  respectively,  showing  a  fairly  even  distribution  of 
responsibility.  Ill-health  and  poverty — economic  stress — con- 
tributed approximately  19  per  cent  each;  individual  peculiarity 
in  the  child,  4.2  per  cent;  and  immorahty  in  the  family,  5.1  per 
cent.  The  percentages  under  adverse  neighborhood  conditions, 
however,  do  not  represent  all  the  children  in  whose  cases  such 
conditions  were  found,  but  only  those  where  the  difficulty  was 
seemingly  caused  primarily  by  such  conditions. 

Table  XV  shows  to  what  extent  each  of  the  foregoing  causes 

GRAPHIC   REPRESENTATION   OF   PERCENTAGES   IN   TABLE   XV,    SHOWING  FUNDA- 
MENTAL  DIFFICULTIES   AND   REASONS  FOR   INVESTIGATION 


School  Maladjustment 

111  Health 

TeniperaiDent 

Economic  Stress 

Ko  Cooperation  at  Hone 

Immorality  at  Hon© 

Keiehborhood  Conditions 

Condnct  fll 

Scholarship         ^ 


Attendance  ^ 

111  Health  S 

Other  Reasons     CD 


Home  ConiUtions 
Lateness 


which  contributed  to  the  difficulty  or  complicated  the  work  of 
adjustment  was  related  to  the  reasons  given  for  investigation. 


58 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  group  of  children  whose  difficulty 
arose  entirely  or  in  part  from  some  school  misunderstanding  or 
maladjustment  were  reported  to  the  visiting  teacher  for  prac- 
tically all  reasons.  Of  these  cases,  42.3  per  cent  were  reported 
for  scholarship;  32.6  per  cent  for  conduct;  8.4  per  cent  for  ir- 
regular attendance;  5.6  per  cent  for  ill-health;  4.6  per  cent  for 
adverse  home  conditions;  and  0.9  per  cent  for  lateness. 

The  children  in  whom  ill-health  was  found  to  be  largely  re- 
sponsible for  their  difficulty  were  reported  most  often  for  ill- 
health,  37.4  per  cent;  then  for  scholarship,  29.2  per  cent;  then 
for  conduct,  15.2  per  cent;  then  for  irregular  attendance,  ii.i 
per  cent;  and  then  for  adverse  home  conditions  and  for  lateness, 
each  0.6  per  cent. 

As  would  be  expected,  a  large  proportion  of  the  children  found 
peculiar  in  temperament,  55.3  per  cent,  were  reported  for  con- 
duct and  only  23.7  per  cent  for  poor  scholarship. 

The  group  in  which  economic  stress  played  a  large  part  in 
causing  the  difficulty  is  distributed  rather  evenly  among  the 
reasons  for  investigation,  but  the  order  is  significant.  Irregular 
attendance  comes  first,  with  26.2  per  cent;  then  in  order:  con- 
duct, 21.5  per  cent;  adverse  home  conditions,  19.7  per  cent; 
scholarship,  16.9  per  cent;  ill-health,  9.3  per  cent;  and  lateness, 
3.5  per  cent.  It  is  very  natural  that  poverty  should  be  discovered 
through  its  effect  on  the  attendance  and  conduct  of  pupils,  and 
natural,  too,  that  those  two  manifestations  should  be  the  most  fre- 
quent, for  lack  of  proper  clothing  keeps  many  children  from 
school,  and  improper  feeding  and  housing  are  responsible  for  much 
of  the  restlessness  and  instability  of  pupils  in  the  poorer  neighbor- 
hoods. 

The  distribution  of  cases  in  which  the  family  was  found  failing 
in  cooperation  was  as  follows:  conduct,  29.2  per  cent;  scholar- 
ship, 27.3  per  cent;  irregular  attendance,  20.1  per  cent;  ill- 
health,  9.6  per  cent;  adverse  home  conditions,  4.3  per  cent;  and 
lateness,  3.8  per  cent. 

The  children  in  whose  families  an  immoral  condition  was  caus- 
ing the  special  trouble  were  reported  with  equal  frequency  for 
attendance,  for  adverse  home  conditions  and  for  conduct,  25.6 
per  cent. 

A  word  of  explanation  is  pertinent  in  this  connection  in  regard 
to  the  reasons  designated  "Adverse  Home  Conditions"  and  "Ill- 
health"  for  which  children  were  reported  to  the  visiting  teacher. 


59 

They  represent  simply  the  general  opinion  of  the  person  report- 
ing the  case  rather  than  such  more  definite  facts  as  classroom 
marks.  A  teacher  may  suspect  poverty  because  of  a  child's 
appearance  or  generously  decide  that  illness  is  the  cause  of  indiffer- 
ence and  so  report  the  case  to  the  visiting  teacher.  The  investiga- 
tion may  reveal  that  there  is  no  economic  stress  but  that  the 
child  is  neglected,  or  that  his  illness  is  mental  rather  than  physical 
and  that  he  needs  to  be  placed  with  sub-normal  children. 

The  figures  in  general  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  cause  of 
children's  difficulties  cannot  be  laid  at  the  door  of  any  one  agency 
nor  attributed  to  any  one  factor.  They  cannot  be  explained  by 
blaming  the  schools  alone  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  can  it  be  said 
that  the  parents  are  always  and  solely  at  fault.  While  they  bear 
out  the  conclusions  that  would  be  expected — that  poor  scholar- 
ship means  school  maladjustment,  that  a  child's  family  can  usu- 
ally manage  the  attendance  problem  and  that  the  teachers  are 
good  judges  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  children — yet  the 
fact  that  the  total  number  of  difficulties,  873,  so  far  exceeds 
the  number  of  cases  indicates  that  several  factors  may  enter  into 
a  particular  case  and  that  no  one  phase  of  the  child's  life  can 
wisely  be  isolated  and  all  other  phases  left  out  of  the  reckoning. 
The  school  and  the  home  must  work  together  and  all  agencies 
dealing  with  children  must  regard  them  in  all  their  relationships 
if  their  work  is  to  be  most  effective. 


Measures  Found  Most  Effective  and   Reasons  for  In- 
vestigation 

After  deciding  what  have  been  the  chief  difficulties  in  handhng 
the  case,  the  visiting  teacher  seeks  to  determine  which  of  all  the 
measures  she  has  taken  have  helped  most  in  bringing  about  the 
desired  results.  Sometimes  the  cooperation  of  the  school  has 
been  the  most  important  measure,  sometimes  the  help  comes 
entirely  from  the  family,  very  often  the  fact  that  the  child  feels 
that  he  has  an  interested  and  sympathetic  friend  spurs  him  to 
renewed  effort  and  again  the  cooperation  of  an  outside  agency  has 
turned  the  scale.  It  is  often  all  of  these  combined,  as  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  total  number  under  each  reason  is  in  every  case 
much  larger  than  the  number  of  cases  reported  for  that  reason. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  more  than  one  measure  was  sometimes 
found  particularly  effective  in  specific  cases,  the  total  number  of 


6o 

measures  exceeds  the  total  number  of  cases.     The  distribution  is 
as  follows: 

Number  Per  cent 


Visiting  Teacher  Supervision 
Cooperation  with  Outside  Agencies 
Family  Cooperation 
School  Modification 

339 
168 
128 
123 

44-7 
22.2 
16.9 
16.2 

Total  758  loo.o 


YlBiting  Teacher  Sup.  WM  Family  Cooperation  S 
Coop*  Outside  ^Agencies  ^. School  Hodifioation  (ID 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  most  effective  method  of  accomplish- 
ing results  was  the  visiting  teacher's  personal  supervision.  This 
means,  first  of  all,  that  the  visitor  established  herself  as  a  friend 
of  the  child,  that  she  created  opportunities  to  meet  him  in  school 
and  at  home,  that  she  shared  his  interest  as  far  as  possible  and 
made  him  realize  that  she  was  keeping  in  touch  with  his  school 
progress  to  commend  his  success  as  well  as  to  correct  or  prevent 
his  failure.  There  are  two  groups  of  cases  which  come  under  this 
classification — first,  those  in  which  the  adjustment  was  brought 
about  by  the  relationship  which  the  visiting  teacher  was  able  to 
establish  between  the  child  and  its  family  and  herself,  and  second, 
those  in  which  the  effectiveness  of  the  cooperation  obtained  was 
assured  by  her  own  action  alone,  such  as  supervising  the  child's 
diet  so  that  the  doctor's  suggestions  concerning  it  were  carried  out 
persistently,  making  sure  that  advantage  was  taken  of  recrea- 
tional opportunity,  tutoring,  etc.,  the  cooperation  of  the  school 
and  the  family  being  merely  passive. 

The  effectiveness  of  this  personal  work  with  children  is  not 
peculiar  to  visiting  teacher  work.  The  same  thing  is  true  where 
the  teacher  has  the  faculty  of  resolving  her  class  into  individual 
units  instead  of  treating  them  in  the  mass.  The  results  of  such 
a  relationship  are  all  out  of  proportion  to  the  effort  it  entails. 
It  constitutes  a  strong  argument  for  the  small  class  and  informal 
methods  of  treatment,  which  alone  would  obviate  many  diffi- 
culties of  behavior  and  neglected  lessons. 

The  help  of  outside  agencies  came  next  as  a  potent  factor  in 
adjustment.     This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  financial  relief 


6i 

was  given  in  any  large  measure,  for,  as  was  shown  in  Table  XIV, 
such  relief  was  secured  by  the  visiting  teachers  in  only  13  per 
cent  of  the  cases.  As  indicated  in  Table  XIII,  it  included, 
besides  such  relief,  recreational  opportunities,  country  care, 
medical  assistance  and  special  help  in  school  work. 

The  school  and  family  seem  to  have  cooperated  most  effectively 
in  about  the  same  number  of  cases,  16  per  cent,  comparing  very 
well  with  the  opinion  expressed  in  connection  with  Table  XIV,* 
that  the  responsibility  for  difficulties  should  be  divided  evenly 
between  the  two. 

Table  XVI  shows  the  relation  between  these  measures  which 
were  found  most  effective  and  the  reasons  for  investigation,  and 
includes,  also,  all  cases  which  were  regarded  unadjusted  at  the 
end  of  the  school  year. 

GRAPHIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  PERCENTAGES  IN  TABLE  XVI,  SHOWING  MEASURES 
FOUND   MOST   EFFECTIVE   AND   REASONS   FOR   INVESTIGATION 

Outside  Agencies    MBMMff^''^rfi'7TrT""""""-^'^-'-'-^t— -— — jrill|||||iillliiiiii      I 

Conduct  ■§        Attendance  W^      Home  Conditiona  11 

Scholarahip        ^        111  Health         S      Lateness  Wh 

Other  Roaaons     CU 

It  will  be  noted  that  of  the  cases  in  which  some  adjustment 
within  the  school  was  largely  instrumental  in  solving  the  diffi- 
culty, 36.6  per  cent  were  reported  for  scholarship,  32.5  per  cent 
for  conduct,  13.8  per  cent  for  ill-health  and  10.6  per  cent  for 
irregular  attendance. 

Of  the  family  cooperation  group,  scholarship  and  conduct  cases 
comprised  practically  the  same  proportion,  28.1  per  cent  and  28.9 
per  cent  respectively.  Irregular  attendance  came  next  with  15.6 
per  cent;  ill-health,  with  11.7  per  cent;  and  home  conditions 
with  6.3  per  cent. 

Of  the  children  who  were  most  affected  by  the  personal  super- 
vision of  the  visiting  teacher,  35.4  per  cent  had  been  reported  for 
conduct  below  standard,  23.9  per  cent  for  poor  scholarship,  15.3 
per  cent  for  irregular  attendance,  and  about  8  per  cent  for  ill- 
health  and  for  adverse  home  conditions. 

The  order  of  distribution  is  somewhat  changed  in  the  group 

*  See  page  54. 


62 


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63 

helped  through  the  cooperation  of  outside  agencies.  The  largest 
percentage  there  falls  under  ill-health,  27.4  per  cent;  then  comes 
conduct,  18. 1  per  cent;  then  home  conditions  and  irregular  at- 
tendance, 16  per  cent  each;  and  then  scholarship,  15.4  per  cent. 

In  the  last  group,  comprising  106  cases  in  which  nothing  that 
was  attempted  in  the  way  of  adjustment  seemed  efifective,  those 
which  had  been  reported  for  scholarship  and  conduct  show  the 
highest  percentage,  33.3  per  cent  in  the  one  instance  and  28.3 
per  cent  in  the  other,  followed  by  irregular  attendance,  15  per 
cent.  This  suggests  that  there  was  found  in  such  children  either 
a  serious  unfitness  for  present  school  conditions  or  an  active  lack 
of  interest  in  school  work.  Many  of  these  cases  were  of  long  dura- 
tion and  had  entailed  much  effort  on  the  part  of  the  visitor  and 
of  other  individuals  and  agencies,  and,  in  spite  of  that  effort, 
could  not  be  accounted  successfully  adjusted  nor  even  markedly 
improved  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Other  children  left  school 
before  definite  action  could  be  taken:  13  left  the  city,  24  went  to 
other  schools  or  secured  employment  certificates,  making  a  total 
of  37  who  were  removed  from  school  before  the  end  of  the  year. 
Some  cases  were  reported  so  late  in  the  year  that  little  action 
could  be  taken  concerning  them.  These  children,  if  they  still 
remained  in  school,  would  be  visited  again  at  the  beginning  of 
the  next  school  year.  In  such  cases  a  cumulative  effect  is  often 
noted,  and  unexpected  and  rather  sudden  results  are  sometimes 
shown  after  months  of  unproductive  effort. 

The  cases  described  below  illustrate  a  few  of  these  children 
whose  difficulties  were  unadjusted. 

Anselma  Martone*  was  the  fifth  in  the  family  of  ten.  Two 
older  children  had  been  adjudged  feeble-minded,  and  one  had 
been  placed  through  the  effort  of  the  visiting  teacher  in  an  insti- 
tution on  account  of  her  moral  delinquency. 

Anselma  had  been  under  the  care  of  the  visiting  teacher  for 
part  of  the  preceding  year,  had  had  several  physical  defects 
corrected  and  had  been  recommended  for  an  ungraded  class  for 
high  grade  girls,  where  she  was  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
next  school  year.  She  was  seriously  retarded  and  extremely 
unstable  in  behavior,  though  a  very  responsive  child,  easily 
appealed  to  through  her  affections  and  desire  to  please,  and  very 
confiding,  all  of  which  traits,  combined  with  the  debased  home 
surroundings,  an  early  sexual  experience  and  familiarity  with 
her  older  sister's  irregularities,  made  her  future  a  very  doubtful 
one. 

*  The  names  are  fictitious. 


64 

There  was  much  improvement  during  the  year,  but  not  enough 
for  the  visitor  to  feel  that  any  permanent  adjustment  could  be 
made  except  through  the  removal  of  the  child  from  her  environ- 
ment. Attempts  to  place  her  even  temporarily  during  the  sum- 
mer were  not  successful.  At  this  point  the  year's  record  closed, 
and  Anselma  was  listed  with  the  io6  cases  for  whom  no  measures 
were  found  really  effective. 

It  may  now  be  added  that  later  developments  brought  the 
child  under  the  care  of  the  Juvenile  Court  and  placed  her  in  a 
small  Home,  where  she  will  be  safely  cared  for  for  some  years. 

Walter  Brigham  and  Stella  Goldstein*  were  peculiar  children, 
the  former  an  intelligent  boy  of  12,  who  had  a  most  thorough- 
going incapacity  for  learning  the  sound  values  of  letters  or  words. 
Asked  what  letters  he  recognized  in  child,  he  would  answer  that 
he  heard  g,  o  and  p,  or  something  equally  irrelevant. 

Stella  was  a  peculiar  looking  girl,  very  short  for  her  13  years, 
but  with  normal  facial  and  shoulder  development  for  her  age. 
She  was  much  retarded,  had  no  companions,  was  exceedingly 
untruthful  and  was  reported  as  a  problem  in  conduct  to  the  visit- 
ing teacher. 

Both  of  these  children  needed  careful  mental  examination  and 
recommendations  for  treatment  in  some  special  class  for  dealing 
with  just  such  problems.  Neither  of  them  were  feeble-minded 
children,  but  both  were  maladjusted  to  present  school  condi- 
tions, and  though  special  coaching,  opportunity  for  club  and  class 
work  and  care  of  health  were  attempted  for  both,  the  results 
were  not  encouraging  because  the  difficulty  was  not  removed. 

In  two  other  cases  there  were  such  serious  economic  or  social 
conditions  in  the  family  that  no  permanent  adjustment  was 
possible.  In  one  there  figured  a  brutal  father,  an  ignorant 
mother  and  a  basement  home  so  dark  that  the  visitor  did  not 
recognize  the  children  whom  she  saw  there  and  did  not  know  for 
months  that  one  little  child  was  a  cripple.  Tuberculosis,  unem- 
ployment, flower  making  and  inadequate  relief  were  the  insur- 
mountable obstacles  in  the  other,  though  work  had  been  con- 
tinued on  this  case  for  several  years.  An  analysis  of  the  entire 
number  of  cases  would  tell  much  the  same  story. 

Here  again  the  close  inter-relation  of  all  activities  concerned 
with  the  school  child  or  his  family  is  shown  and  the  need  of  a  com- 
mon purpose  and  a  conscious  plan  of  cooperation  on  the  part  of 
the  schools  and  the  community  is  emphasized. 

The  education  of  the  child  for  the  fullest,  most  effective  and 
purposeful  participation  in  community  life  should  be  the  aim  of 

*  The  names  are  fictitious. 


65 

all  agencies  dealing  with  him,  and  when  the  school  opens  its 
doors  wide  and  the  community  gives  its  support  and  assistance 
in  carrying  out  the  highest  ideals  of  those  responsible  for  educa- 
tion, then  this  common  purpose  and  plan  of  cooperation  will  be 
assured. 

SUMMARY 

The  children  who  impress  their  teachers  as  needing  special 
care,  not  because  of  truancy  or  acute  delinquency,  but  because 
they  are  falling  behind  in  scholarship,  are  growing  restless  at 
school  restrictions  or  irregular  in  their  attendance  or  show  indi- 
cations that  their  home  conditions  are  adverse,  are  the  visiting 
teacher's  "cases." 

These  cases,  it  is  shown  by  the  tables,  are  chiefly  recruited  from 
the  ranks  of  the  over-age  and  retarded  children,  the  majority 
of  whom  come  from  homes  in  which  conditions  are  socially  or 
economically  adverse. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  them  have  some  physical  defect, 
ranging  in  seriousness  from  dental  trouble  to  heart  disease,  and 
many  of  them  have  more  than  one  such  ill.  In  191 1,  of  230,243 
school  children  examined,  72.3  per  cent  were  reported  as  requir- 
ing treatment,  so  it  is  very  probable  that  the  visiting  teachers' 
percentage  is  no  larger  than  that  of  the  total  school  population.* 
However  that  may  be,  the  figures  emphasize  once  more  the 
acuteness  of  the  problem  and  point  to  the  need  of  a  recognition 
on  the  part  of  those  responsible  for  the  education  and  for  the 
health  of  school  children,  of  the  inter-relation  between  mental 
and  physical  equipment  and  capacity. 

While  the  comparison  of  the  reasons  for  which  cases  were  re- 
ported with  the  various  conditions  found,  action  taken  and  funda- 
mental difficulties  reveals  some  significant  facts,  as  a  rule  there 
seems  to  be  little  definite  relationship  between  them.  Poor 
scholarship,  for  instance,  may  be  related  to  a  variety  of  condi- 
tions. In  one  instance  the  child  may  be  foreign  born  and  in 
another  native  born ;  or  he  may  be  physically  normal  or  defective ; 
or  his  family  may  be  below  the  poverty  line  or  in  comfortable 
circumstances.  The  treatment  that  proved  efficacious  may 
have  been  definite  help  in  school  work  or  the  opportunity  for 
play  or  care  of  health,  and  the  fundamental  difficulty  is  not 

*"  Medical  Inspection  of  Schools, "  Ayres  and  Gulick,  Chapter  IV,  page 
40. 


66 

invariably  school  maladjustment  any  more  than  it  is  always  lack 
of  family  cooperation. 

This  will  not  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to  those  who  have  been  for 
years  nearest  the  problem.  It  supports  the  thesis  of  the  visiting 
teachers  that  there  is  need  for  a  study  of  the  "whole  child,"  his 
interests,  his  activities  and  the  conditions  surrounding  him  at 
school,  at  home  and  at  play,  of  personal  work  with  him,  and  for 
an  effective  and  close  correlation  of  agencies  dealing  with  school 
children,  so  that  there  may  be  teamwork  in  their  behalf. 

The  data  considered  in  the  foregoing  tables  are  of  a  two-fold 
nature,  but  of  equal  value  in  such  a  study  as  is  here  presented. 
The  conditions  found  in  the  course  of  the  investigation  of  each 
case,  as  set  forth  in  Tables  I  to  XIV  inclusive,  are  stable  facts, 
immediately  reducible  to  statistical  form.  The  conclusions 
drawn  from  these  conditions,  on  the  other  hand,  included  in 
Tables  XV  and  XVI,  while  presented  in  statistical  form,  consti- 
tute the  interpretation  of  the  facts,  and  are  actually  opinions 
formed  from  a  study  of  the  child  in  the  school,  the  home  and 
the  outside  environment  and  a  consideration  of  the  effect  of  any 
action  taken  in  the  attempt  to  adjust  the  difficulty.  In  the  last 
two  tables,  therefore,  a  consensus  of  opinion  is  expressed  and  a 
composite  statement  made  concerning  certain  definite  phases  of 
visiting  teacher  work. 

According  to  this  statement,  responsibility  for  the  difficulties 
must  be  shared  by  the  school  and  the  home  alike  and  in  about 
even  ratio,  but  more  successful  measures  of  adjustment  were 
made  possible  through  the  home  than  through  the  school  and 
more  through  outside  agencies  than  through  any  other  means. 

The  reason  for  this  fact  and  for  the  still  larger  number  of  cases 
in  which  adjustment  was  brought  about  by  the  personal  influence 
which  the  visitors'  friendly  relationship  and  understanding  of  the 
child  were  able  to  exert  over  him  and  his  family  may  be  explained 
in  several  ways.  Under  the  present  school  organization  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  radical  modification  to  be  made  in  the 
routine  of  a  child's  day,  whatever  the  circumstances.  He  may  be 
transferred  to  another  class  which  better  meets  his  need;  he  may 
be  excused  from  school  if  his  physical  condition  is  such  that  his 
health  requires  it;  occasionally  it  is  possible  to  give  him  special 
coaching,  to  promote  him  to  a  higher  grade  on  trial  or  to  place 
him  in  a  lower  class  to  repeat  his  work;   but  for  recreational  and 


67 

play  activities,  excursions  and  less  formal  classes  it  is  still  neces- 
sary to  look  to  outside  agencies,  working  after  school  hours. 

It  is  often  these  accessories  that  the  child  needs — special 
lessons  in  drawing  to  encourage  attendance  and  to  stimulate  inter- 
est in  school  work,  vigorous  play  as  a  safety  valve  to  bubbling 
spirits,  housekeeping  or  sewing  classes  or  dramatic  clubs  to 
counteract  the  monotony  of  the  classroom.  Some  time  all  these 
things  will  be  available  within  the  school,  but  until  they  are 
there  is  room  for  all  the  help  that  outside  organizations  can  give, 
and  the  more  closely  their  work  is  related  to  the  needs  of  indi- 
vidual children  the  more  effective  it  will  be. 

The  place  of  what  is  called  "visiting  teacher  supervision"  in 
making  adjustments  has  been  explained  in  another  section  of 
the  report.*  That  is  also  due  in  large  measure  to  the  same  cause, 
and  points  to  the  need  for  a  more  informal  relationship  between 
the  child  and  school  ofiticials. 

FUTURE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  THE  WORK 

The  visiting  teacher  is  more  or  less  isolated  in  her  position  in 
the  school  system.  She  stands  between  the  home  and  the 
school,  but  since  her  object  is  the  school  progress  of  the  child,  she 
must,  as  time  goes  on,  set  her  roots  deeper  within  the  classroom 
or  within  the  school  walls. 

As  the  work  grows,  there  will  prove  to  be  more  need  for  this 
centralization,  both  to  increase  the  effectiveness  of  the  work  of 
the  visitor  and  because  of  the  larger  contribution  that  can  thus 
be  made  toward  the  school's  social  efficiency. 

The  school  is  recognizing  more  and  more  its  social  place  in  the 
community  and  its  social  responsibility  toward  its  children. 
Social  centers,  the  school  lunch,  after-school  clubs  and  classes, 
school  surveys,  and  the  vocational  experiments  which  are  being 
made  are  all  manifestations  of  this  growing  tendency. 

The  next  step  forward  seems  to  many  to  be  the  organization 
of  these  and  other  social  activities  in  a  department  of  Social 
Service  which  shall  be  a  recognized  feature  of  each  school.  Visi- 
tors to  the  homes  of  school  children  will  work  closely  with  the 
director  of  this  department,  who  will  be  one  of  the  principal's 
assistants.  All  social  activities,  whether  within  the  classroom 
or  supplementary  to  the  work  of  the  school,  will  be  in  close  con- 
tact with  this  department  and  will  work  through  it.     All  social 

*  See  page  60. 


68 

relationships,  whether  parent  or  student  organizations  or  the 
informal  association  made  by  parents  or  visitors  from  churches, 
settlements,  relief  or  correctional  agencies,  will  be  made  through 
a  social  director,  not  at  all  to  limit  them  to  that  department  but 
that  through  it  they  may  function  more  effectively  in  the  school 
at  large.  Such  a  plan  will  eventually  mean  changes  in  organiza- 
tion, in  the  opportunities  for  social  training  offered  by  colleges 
and  training  schools  and  in  the  requirements  demanded  by  those 
teachers  seeking  administrative  positions  in  the  school  system, 
but  all  these  changes  are  real  and  constructive  requirements 
which,  for  a  long  time,  educators  have  been  advocating  and 
toward  which  the  educational  systems  of  the  country  have  been 
moving. 

The  visiting  teacher's  work  is  only  one  of  the  humanizing  and 
socializing  movements  which  will  make  the  school  of  the  future 
a  real  "Alma  Mater"  to  its  students. 


PART  III 
VISITING  TEACHER  WORK,   1911-1915 

As  no  report  of  the  Visiting  Teacher  work  has  been  issued  since 
191 1,  the  statistics  for  1912-13,  1913-14,  and  1914-15  have  been 
arranged  in  comparative  tables,  following  as  closely  as  possible 
the  topics  used  in  the  annual  report  for  1911-12,  in  order  to  pro- 
vide a  basis  for  comparison  with  that  year.  The  figures  from  the 
latter  report  have  also  been  incorporated  in  the  tables  wherever 
the  material  is  parallel. 

Since  the  work  of  the  visiting  teachers  has  been  in  the  nature  of 
a  pioneer  undertaking,  there  have  been  many  changes  from  year 
to  year  in  the  data  required  and  in  the  form  of  report  used,  as 
the  essential  elements  of  the  service  were  better  understood. 
The  method  of  recording  the  facts  gathered  has  also  been  sub- 
jected to  many  modifications  and  is  not  even  yet  regarded  as 
fixed.  The  results  are  the  product  of  the  experience  of  all  the 
workers.  It  is  this  process  of  evolution  which  is  responsible  for 
the  discrepancies  in  the  following  pages,  for  the  lines  along  which 
the  work  of  the  various  years  runs  are  not  always  parallel,  and 
in  some  instances  are  not  comparable.  It  was  felt,  however,  that 
it  would  be  worth  while  to  attempt  a  comparative  statement  for 
the  work  of  these  four  years,  in  order  that  a  general  view  of  the 
development  of  the  work  along  broad  fundamental  lines  might  be 
secured. 

In  1911-12  there  were  seven  visiting  teachers  on  the  staff  of 
the  Public  Education  Association  and  their  cases  numbered  1157. 
In  1912-13  there  were  nine  visitors,  each  working  in  a  single 
school,  located  in  eight  school  districts.  The  number  of  regular 
cases  under  their  supervision  was  1396.  In  1913-14  there  were 
seven  visiting  teachers  at  work  for  the  entire  ten  months  and  one 
other  for  the  first  term  only,  from  September  13th  to  February 
1st.  The  work  for  this  year  may  be  divided  in  the  following  way : 
There  were  926  regular  cases  under  supervision,  of  which  694 
were  new  and  232  were  old  cases  reopened.     There  were,  besides, 

69 


70 


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896  special  cases.  In  former  years,  as  already  pointed  out,* 
special  cases  had  not  been  as  fully  recorded.  In  1914-15,  the 
staff  comprised  eight  workers,  one  acting  in  an  administrative 
capacity  and  seven  continuing  the  school  work.  There  were  1086 
regular  cases  and  793  special  cases. 

The  percentages  in  the  following  comparative  tables  have  been 
reckoned  on  the  actual  number  of  cases  under  supervision  during 
the  year.  This  number  does  not  equal  the  sum  of  the  cases 
checked  under  each  classification,  because  the  topics  are  not 
mutually  exclusive,  except  in  Table  XVIII,  dealing  with  the 
nativity  of  the  parent  and  the  child.  This  method  was  followed 
because  it  was  felt  that  the  percentages  were  more  significant  if 
based  on  the  gross  totals  in  each  instance.  The  purpose  is  to 
indicate  what  proportion  of  the  total  number  of  children  reported 
is  found  under  each  topic,  and  since  the  cases  overlap,  the  totals 
must  be  disregarded. 


REASONS  FOR  INVESTIGATION 

Table  XVII  shows  the  number  of  children  reported  for  each 
of  the  five  principal  reasons  in  each  of  the  four  years.  From  year 
to  year  the  problem  in  the  various  schools  shifts  somewhat,  and 
since  the  visiting  teachers'  work  is  not  prescribed  beforehand, 
but  follows  along  lines  indicated  by  the  children's  needs,  it  will 
be  noted  that  the  reasons  for  which  cases  are  reported  to  her  show 
varying  proportions. 

Formerly,  the  children  who  were  referred  to  the  visiting 
teachers  for  reasons  other  than  difficulties  in  scholarship,  conduct, 
attendance  and  lateness  were  listed  under  the  general  head, 
"advice  and  information  needed."  In  the  last  two  years  more 
definitive  terms  were  employed,  and  an  effort  was  made  to 
analyze  carefully  the  statements  sent  in  by  the  principal  or 
teachers  and  to  check  them  under  the  topics  in  general  use.f  For 
purposes  of  comparison  over  the  four-year  period  it  was  neces- 
sary to  group  roughly  under  "other  reasons"  all  cases  reported 
for  ill-health,  adverse  home  conditions  and  all  reasons  not  other- 
wise listed.  In  Part  II  a  detailed  enumeration  was  presented 
of  all  the  reasons  for  which  cases  were  reported  in   1913-14. 

*  See  Part  II,  page  20. 

t  See  Part  II,  Table  I,  page  22. 


72 


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73 

Those  listed  in  1914-15  under  the  general  term  "Other  Reasons" 
were  actually  reported  for  the  following  causes : 

Ill-health  223 

Adverse  Home  Conditions  291 
Supplementary  Activity  Needed,  or  Needing  Encouragement 

and  Sympathy  or  Special  Advice  16 

Desirous  of  Further  Education  or  Trade  Training  1 1 

Child  Labor  3 

Seeking  Employment  I 

Admission  to  School  I 

Total  571 


Furthermore,  in  1911-12  lateness  was  included  under  irregular 
attendance,  which  naturally  raises  the  percentage  for  that  year 
under  that  topic.  Aside  from  such  exceptions,  it  will  be  noted 
that  the  proportions  for  the  four  years  are  very  similar,  showing 
apparently  the  permanency  of  the  problems  confronting  the 
visiting  teacher. 


CONDITIONS  FOUND 

In  Tables  XVIII,  XIX,  and  XX  an  effort  has  been  made  to 
show  numerically  the  extent  of  environmental  causes  that  are 
shaping  the  lives  of  the  children  under  the  visiting  teachers'  care. 

In  the  report  for  1911-12  there  were  no  data  on  this  topic  and 
in  1912-13  and  in  1914-15  the  nativity  of  parents  and  of  children 
was  not  noted  except  in  the  case  of  the  obviously  foreign  born, 
so  that  the  percentage  of  unknown  cases  in  those  years,  as  shown 
in  Table  XVIII,  would  probably  increase  somewhat  the  native 
born  group.  As  the  table  stands,  there  seems  to  be  a  slight  de- 
crease in  the  native  born  children  of  American  parentage,  and  a 
similar  increase  in  those  of  foreign  parentage.  The  variations 
other  than  these  are  not  significant. 

The  question  of  nationality,  length  of  residence  in  the  United 
States  and  ability  to  speak  the  language  have  not  been  taken 
into  consideration  in  this  enumeration,  and  no  very  detailed  con- 
clusions can  be  drawn  concerning  the  problem  without  these  im- 
portant factors.  Statistics  regarding  the  nativity  of  the  entire 
school  population  would  also  form  the  basis  for  a  very  valuable 
comparison,  but  such  figures  are  not  at  present  available. 

In  Table  XIX  there  is  another  general  topic,  "other  condi- 


74 


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Mentally  deficient 
Physically  deficient 
Tendency  to  immoralit 
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supplementary  activi 
Overage 
Maladjusted  in  school 

c 

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75 

tions,"  which  was  inserted  to  cover  classifications  which  have 
been  revised  from  year  to  year.  Certain  children  have  been 
found  to  require  activities  which  the  school  does  not  provide, 
others  need  encouragement  and  sympathy  or  special  care  or  ad- 
vice because  of  individual  peculiarity.  All  such  cases  are  grouped 
together  in  this  table,  but  even  then  the  numbers  for  1913-14 
and  1914-15  are  hardly  comparable,  because  the  basis  for  classi- 
fications was  slightly  different.  Various  factors  contribute  to 
the  slight  variations  found  in  the  percentages  on  other  topics. 
If  a  visiting  teacher  is  able  to  provide,  through  her  volunteer 
helpers,  original  and  varied  activities  for  the  children  under  her 
care,  the  teachers  tend  to  ask  her  aid  for  those  pupils  who  seem 
especially  in  need  of  such  activity.  If  the  visitor  is  working  in  a 
girls'  school  where  she  is  given  cases  largely  from  the  upper  grades, 
she  is  almost  sure  to  have  many  children  reported  to  her  who  are 
timid  or  discouraged  or  who  need  special  guidance  and  advice 
along  the  thorny  paths  of  adolescence. 

Table  XX  compares  the  conditions  found  in  the  home  and  in 
the  neighborhood  for  the  four  years.  The  same  explanation  of 
variation  of  percentages  that  was  given  above  applies  to  the 
figures  in  Table  XX.  In  1911-12  and  1912-13,  economic  stress 
was  noted  wherever  it  was  found  to  exist.  In  the  two  later 
years,  the  term  was  used  only  when  poverty  was,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  visiting  teachers,  an  important  factor  in  the  difficulty  for 
which  the  child  was  reported  to  her.  However,  in  1914-15,  un- 
employment was  acute  and  the  question  of  want  among  school 
children  was  so  pressing  that  it  assumed  alarming  proportions. 
This  condition  is  reflected  in  the  topic  thus  cited  and  also  in  the 
proportion  of  cases  for  1914-15  receiving  financial  relief  through 
the  efforts  of  the  visiting  teacher.* 

The  reason  for  the  apparent  diversity  between  the  different 
years  under  the  heading  adverse  neighborhood  conditions  was 
the  same.  The  lines  between  this  topic  and  the  others  in  Table 
XX  were  more  closely  drawn  in  1913-14,  and  cases  were  checked 
only  when  it  w£is  considered  that  the  fundamental  cause  of  the 
difficulty  lay  in  conditions  of  the  neighborhood.  It  happened 
that  in  two  school  neighborhoods  there  were,  in  1914-15,  unusual 
gang  activities  which  reacted  at  once  on  the  less  stable  pupils 
and  brought  them  under  the  care  of  the  visiting  teacher.  The 
problem  of  the  school  is  and  should  be  the  problem  of  its  visiting 

*  See  Table  XXIII. 


76 


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77 

teachers  so  far  as  it  concerns  the  interests  of  the  children  who  are 
pupils  there. 

ACTION  TAKEN  AND  TREATMENT  SECURED 

Table  XXI  shows  the  type  of  cooperation  given  by  the  school 
under  three  heads.  In  Part  II,  under  Tables  XIII  and  XIV, 
this  cooperation  is  enumerated  in  more  detail. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  many  more  changes  were  made  in 
the  school  treatment  of  children  in  the  last  years  than  ever  before. 
This  indicates  a  better  understanding  of  the  work  and  an  in- 
creased willingness  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  and  principals  to 
adapt  school  requirements  to  the  needs  of  the  children  as  far  as 
possible. 

Table  XXII  shows  the  extent  to  which  the  home  cooperated 
in  the  effort  to  correct  the  maladjustment  in  the  life  of  the  child. 

In  1911-12  this  was  briefly  stated  as  active  cooperation,  se- 
cured in  566  cases,  or  49  per  cent.  The  figures  for  the  following 
years  are  very  similar,  the  difference  in  the  physical  care  being 
accounted  for  by  the  special  work  described  in  the  appendix. 

Table  XXIII  shows  the  kinds  of  activities  provided  for  or 
treatment  secured  through  cooperating  social  agencies.  It  was 
impossible  to  include  the  figures  for  1911-12  in  the  table,  because 
they  were  not  reckoned  on  a  percentage  basis.  A  conservative 
estimate  of  the  number  of  cases  in  which  cooperation  by  outside 
agencies  was  given  in  that  year  would  be  727;  in  1912-13  there 
were  1181,  in  1913-14  there  were  907,  and  in  1914-15  there  were 
1431.  The  percentages  for  the  three  years  are  very  similar,  but 
there  will  be  noted  an  increase  in  the  number  of  children  receiving 
opportunity  for  study  and  also  that  more  were  placed  in  clubs 
and  classes.  This  seems  to  indicate  that  the  educational  features 
of  the  work  are  gaining  in  emphasis. 

OUTCOME 

Table  XXIV  shows  the  disposition  of  the  cases  made  at  the 
end  of  the  year. 

At  the  end  of  each  term,  and  sometimes  during  the  year,  the 
children  pass  a  definite  boundary  line  and  begin  afresh.  They 
may  win  promotion  or  graduation,  they  may  go  on  to  trade- 
training  or  high  school,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  removal  of 
their  families  may  take  them  out  of  town  entirely  or  to  another 


78 


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Added  care  for   physical  condi- 
tion 
Added  care  for  mental  condition 
Added  care  for  moral  condition 
Change  in  home  surroundings 
Change   in   attitude   and   other 
modification 

* 

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79 

city  school.  Sometimes  the  visiting  teacher  has  helped  in  mark- 
ing this  boundary  line  or  has  made  it  possible  for  the  child  to  take 
the  last  difficult  steps,  and  sometimes  the  changes  come  in  the 
natural  course  of  events.  There  is  also  a  summing  up  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  as  shown  in  Part  II,  Table  XVI,*  and  an  attempt  to 
indicate  cases  which  show  improvement  in  school  work  and  those 
which  seem  to  be  permanently  adjusted. 

In  1913-14  and  in  1914-15  cases  checked  under  "adjusted" 
were  not  noted  under  "improvement,"  so  that  the  figures  are  not 
fairly  comparable.  The  visiting  teachers  are  growing  more  and 
more  conservative  in  regard  to  recording  cases  of  school  difficulty 
as  adjusted.  They  are  drawing  the  lines  between  improved  and 
adjusted  more  closely  and  are  more  inclined  to  indicate  the  degree 
of  adjustment  than  to  report  it  as  final.  They  are  also  tending 
to  keep  children  under  supervision  from  year  to  year  either  as 
regular  or  as  special  cases.  However,  the  large  percentage  of  the 
cases  reported  for  adverse  home  conditions  and  for  ill-health 
brought  a  new  factor  into  the  question  of  adjustment.  Often 
the  aid  obtained  for  a  family  or  extra  diet  secured  for  the  school 
child  adjusted  the  difficulty  for  which  the  service  of  the  visiting 
teacher  had  been  enlisted  and  further  follow-up  work  was  given 
over  to  the  agency  working  directly  with  the  family. 

The  visiting  teachers'  share  in  the  attempt  of  the  schools  to 
deal  with  the  problem  of  economic  stress  was  an  emergent  action 
which  does  not  affect  their  general  policy.  In  cases  of  difficulty 
in  scholarship  or  of  maladjustment  to  school  conditions,  much 
longer  supervision  is  needed  and  the  assurance  of  a  lasting  ad- 
justment is  deferred  till  a  long  acquaintance  with  the  child  has 
proved  its  permanence. 

In  1911-12  the  heading  "Improvement"  was  subdivided  into 
"Improvement  in  Scholarship,"  "Improvement  in  Conduct" 
and  "Improvement  in  Attendance,"  so  that  each  case  improved 
may  frequently  be  counted  three  times.  Improvement  in 
scholarship  showed  the  lowest  figure,  and  that  heading  alone  has 
been  used  in  Table  XXIV.  The  variations  in  the  other  per- 
centages are  either  insignificant  or  have  obvious  causes. 

Probably  the  increase  in  the  number  of  graduates  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  many  children  remain  under  the  care  of  the  visitor  till 
they  leave  school.  One  visitor  had  over  thirty  charges  in  the 
graduating  class,  most  of  whom  she  had  known  more  than  a  year. 

*  Page  62. 


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It  is  quite  obvious  that  with  added  experience  and  as  the  work 
becomes  better  known  in  the  schools,  the  proportion  of  unsuitable 
cases  should  become  smaller,  as  is  shown  in  the  table.  In  almost 
no  other  work  does  the  human  element  enter  more  largely,  and 
that  fact  makes  the  compiling  of  statistics  dealing  with  anything 
but  the  gross  enumeration  a  difficult  task.  The  details  which 
represent  opinions  held  by  the  visiting  teachers  or  the  interpreta- 
tion of  facts  expressed  by  them,  will  necessarily  be  less  stable  than 
such  an  enumeration,  but  the  general  balance  of  the  figures  for  the 
different  years  seems  to  indicate  that  such  opinion  or  interpreta- 
tion rests  on  a  basis  of  fact. 


APPENDIX 

PHYSICAL  NEEDS  OF  CHILDREN   IN  ONE  VISITING 
TEACHER'S  SCHOOL 

The  following  table  shows  the  results  of  a  study  by  Miss  Ruth  S.  True,  one 
of  the  visiting  teachers,  of  the  physical  needs  of  a  small  group  of  children  re- 
ported to  her  for  physical  or  mental  inferiority. 

The  school  was  in  a  very  neglected  district  and  the  visitor  had  been  im- 
pressed with  the  great  need  for  physical  care  in  almost  all  the  children  sent  to 
her,  whether  because  of  ill-health  or  for  retardation,  irregularity  or  mental 
sluggishness. 

The  work  was  undertaken  as  a  supplementary  study  and  the  figures  are 
here  presented  in  a  separate  table  because  it  was  felt  that  it  would  unduly 
swell  the  number  of  physical  defective  children,  if  they  were  added  to  the  tables 
in  the  body  of  the  report.  It  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose,  however,  that  in 
almost  any  district  such  a  study  would  reveal  many  more  physical  defects 
than  the  present  method  brings  to  light,  especially  at  the  opposite  ends  of  the 
scale — the  obscure  cardiac  and  pulmonary  diseases,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
minor  digestive  ills,  on  the  other. 

No.  of  children  examined  62 

Condition: 

General :      Good  1 1 

Fair  13 

Anemic,  under-developed  or  under-nourished  38 

Rachitic  *  4 

Lungs:         Under  observation  for  T.  B.  3 

Bronchitis  9 

Pneumonia  i 

Heart :  Chronic  disease  3 

Anemic  murmur  2 

Rapid  action  '  I 

Throat:        Enlarged  tonsils,  adenoids,  or  both  needing  opera- 

ation  _  23 

Enlarged  tonsils,  no  operation  advised  9 

Enlarged  glands  5 

Teeth:         Defective  53 

Eyes:  Examination  for  vision  advised  17 

Marked  inflammation  needing  treatment  I 

Already  fitted  with  glasses  4 

*  The  rachitic  children  of  this  group  were  also  classified  under  other  head- 
ings. 

82 


83 

Ears:  Defective  hearing  2 

Defective  drums  4 

Hardened  wax  9 

Digestion:  Constipation  or  intestinal  fermentation  or  both     33 

Spine:  Postural  curvature  13 

Muscular  weakness — marked  4 

Feet:  Flat  15 

Weak  arches  5 

Other  defects: 

Prolapsed  stomach  i 

Deviated  septum  4 

Nose  ulcer  2 

External  sores  from  teeth  condition  i 

Speech  defect  I 

Enlarged  turbinates  I 

Broken  or  displaced  nasal  bones  2 

Discharging  ears  I 

Acne  I 

Dermatitis  2 

Treatment  of  Children  in  Group 

Medical  49 

Placed  in  Fresh-Air  Class  13 

Sent  to  Convalescent  Home  5 

Throat  operation  13 

Eyes  tested  13 

Glasses  given  12 

Treated  i 

Ears  cleaned  out  4 

Examined  and  treated  2 

Placed  in  special  exercise  class  I 

Ground  gripper  shoes  given  2 

Nose  examination  I 

Hospital  care  I 

Teeth  treated  15 

It  will  be  noted  that  38  out  of  62  children  reported  were  found  to  be  anemic, 
under-developed  or  under-nourished,  that  almost  100  per  cent  had  defective 
teeth,  and  33,  or  50  per  cent,  had  more  or  less  serious  digestive  difficulties. 
The  treatment  given  these  children  is  also  recorded  here,  as  was  not  done  in 
Part  ni.  No  record  was  made  there  of  children  whose  defects  were  marked 
corrected  or  under  treatment. 

The  following  cases  illustrate  the  need  of  the  specialized  medical  work  which 
takes  into  consideration  symptoms  other  than  the  strictly  physical  manifes- 
tation: 

"A  boy  of  eight  was  sent  to  me  a  year  ago  from  the  fresh-air  class  as  a  pos- 
sible mental  defective.  He  had  spent  two  terms  in  lA  and  two  in  a  iB  grade 
and  was  being  forced  on  to  2A,  though  much  below  standard.  He  was  a 
slender  little  fellow,  with  a  long  pale  face  and  very  nervous  movements.  He 
had  never  been  strong  from  the  time  when  he  had  spent  the  first  year  and  a  half 
of  his  existence  in  a  hospital  and  had,  only  by  expert  care,  been  pulled  through 
marasmus  and  bloody  dysentery.  He  is  the  kind  who  dislikes  the  street,  and 
he  was  placed  in  the  yard  with  his  sisters  because  the  other  fellows  '  picked  at 
him,'  trying  to  make  him  fight,  and  he  was  not  able  physically  to  hold  his  own. 
In  the  fall  we  placed  him  in  the  fresh-air  class  and  he  was  one  of  the  children  to 


84 

be  examined  in  November.  The  only  Board  of  Health  examination  had  been 
given  two  years  previous  and  had  marked  him  normal.  On  the  first  day  he 
was  seen  he  was  running  a  high  temperature  and  we  entered  him  at  once  in 
St.  Mary's  hospital,  where  he  went  through  a  siege  of  pneumonia.  We  were 
advised,  also,  to  have  his  tonsils  removed  and  his  teeth  treated.  This  was  done 
before  he  left  the  hospital.  He  had  been  eating  a  great  deal  between  meals, 
especially  sweets.  All  that  his  mother  could  induce  him  to  take  for  breakfast 
was  bread  and  tea  or  sometimes  a  glass  of  milk.  He  would  not  eat  eggs  or  soup 
or  cocoa.  After  coming  home  we  got  the  mother  to  institute  a  new  regimen. 
She  cut  down  on  the  eating  between  meals  and  instituted  a  breakfast  of  eggs 
and  cereals.  This  spring  she  reported  that  since  he  came  from  the  hospital 
Hugh  would  eat  anything  that  she  gave  to  him.  '  He  found  there  he  could  do  it 
when  he  had  to.'  Also,  Mrs.  Peters  found  out  that  it  paid.  And  she  has 
changed  his  sleeping  room  from  an  inner  bedroom  with  no  windows  to  an  outer 
living  room  with  two  windows  opening  on  the  yard.  In  January  he  was  given 
glasses  for  very  defective  vision.  Some  tonic  and  treatment  for  a  short 
time  for  constipation  complete  his  physical  history.  He  has  gained  five 
pounds  in  weight.  He  has,  during  the  year,  gotten  through  the  essentials  of 
2A  and  2B  work,  with  an  average  marking  of  B.  As  is  natural  with  this  type 
of  child,  he  lacks  concentration  and  his  effort  comes  in  spurts.  His  teacher 
considers  him  quite  capable  to  go  ahead  to  the  3A  work.  The  record  from  him 
is  more  than  creditable.  The  changes  efifected  in  his  home  promise  to  be 
permanent  and  to  include  two  other  children  as  well." 

"Sarah  J.  was  examined  in  March,  1913.  She  was  a  child  who  had  been 
absent  about  one-third  of  the  time  after  entering  P.  S.  84  from  the  parochial 
school  in  September,  191 1.  As  a  consequence,  she  had  never  seen  the  school 
doctor.  It  was  found  that  she  had  incipient  tuberculosis.  This  diagnosis 
was  not  certain  without  a  sputum  test,  and  in  all  probability  would  not  have 
been  disclosed  in  the  school  examination.  She  was  gotten  at  once  to  the  day 
camp  at  Vanderbilt  Clinic.  This  year  she  was  sent  from  there  to  Stony  Wold 
and  came  home  in  splendid  condition.  Her  sister  was  sent  to  the  fresh-air 
class  and  also  gained  decidedly." 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION  OF  THE 
CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

The  Public  Education  Association  was  founded  in  1895  to 
study  the  problems  of  public  education,  investigate  the  condition 
of  the  common  and  corporate  schools,  stimulate  public  interest 
in  the  schools  and  propose  from  tiriie  to  time  such  changes  in 
organization,  management  or  educational  methods  as  might  seem 
necessary  or  desirable.  Its  efforts  are  confined  to  the  welfare  of 
the  New  York  City  public  schools,  but  it  seeks  to  shape  these 
efforts  in  accord  with  the  best  educational  theory  and  experience 
of  the  country. 

OFFICERS 

Charles  P.  Howland,  President 

Joseph  R.  Swan,  Vice-President 

Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rensselaer,  Honorary  Vice-President 

W.  K.  Brice,  Treasurer 

Howard  W.  Nudd,  Director 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

Mrs.  Miriam  Sutro  Price,  Clmirman 
Leonard  P.  Ayres  Miss  C.  R.  Lowell 

W.  K.  Brice  J.  K.  Paulding 

Clyde  Furst  George  D.  Strayer 

Mrs.  E.  C.  Henderson  Mrs.  Joseph  R.  Swan 

Charles  P.  Howland  Miss  E.  S.  Williai^s 

TRUSTEES 

Chester  Aldrich  Mrs.  George  mIcAneny 

Frederick  W.  Allen  Frank  M.  McMurry 

W.  K.  Brice  Ogden  L.  Mills 

Charles  G.  Burlingham  Mrs.  Miriam  Sutro  Price 

Joseph  P.  Cotton,  Jr.  Mrs.  F.  Louis  Slade 

Mrs.  Arthur  M.  Dodge  Willard  D.  Straight 

Mrs.  Learned  Hand  Percy  S.  Straus 

Mrs.  E.  C.  Henderson  Charles  H.  Strong 

Charles  P.  Howland  Joseph  R.  Swan 

Miss  C.  R.  Lowell  Mrs.  Charles  L.  Tiffany 

Miss  Helen  Wise 

The  work  of  the  Association  is  carried  out  through  a  trained 
stafif  and  a  number  of  standing  and  special  committees.  The 
results  of  this  work  are  presented  to  the  members  and  to  the 
public  through  reports,  bulletins,  leaflets,  public  conferences  and 
discussion  in  the  daily  press. 

Every  citizen  should  be  informed  about  the  conditions 
and  progress  of  the  public  scliools  and  take  an  intelligent 
and  effective  part  in  furthering  their  welfare. 

If  you  are  not  a  member  you  are  invited  to  join  the 
Association. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  EDUCATION 

ASSOCIATION 

In,  ■  '  — ^-^ftc  of  the  work  from  year  to 

year,  -the  Associatioh  uas:.  p^iLUohea  t.x^  folloving  bulletins  and^ 
special  reports; 

Bulletins: 

No.     I.  Organization  and  Program.  ^ 

*No.    2.  The  Permanent  Census  Board — Howard  W.  Nudd.  ' 

No.  •  ^.  Conferences. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

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